How Could You? Hall of Shame-Simon Chavez and Simon Magana Chavez UPDATED
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Antioch, California, a “foster parent and his son are accused of sexually abusing multiple children in Antioch, the Contra Costa County District Attorney’s Office said Monday.
The foster father, identified by the district attorney as 64-year-old Simon Chavez, cared for young children for at least 18 years at his home in Antioch.
His son, Simon Magana Chavez, 31, of Atwater, worked as a state correctional officer, the DA’s office said.
Both the father and son were charged earlier this month with charges relating to sexual abuse and unlawful sex with a minor.
The 31-year-old suspect is accused of abusing two children.
He’s being held in police custody on $1.23 million bail
His father, the elder Chavez, is being held on a bond of $31.5 million.
Both men have been arraigned and entered not guilty pleas.
It’s unclear how many alleged victims are involved in the case, but the district attorney says the investigation is on going.
Those with information on the suspects or investigation are asked to contact Antioch Police Detective Kelly Inabnett at 925-779-6932.“
Foster father, son accused of sexually abusing children, Contra Costa DA says
[Kron 4 7/29/19 by Kayla Galloway]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“A detective testifying at the January pretrial hearing for a father and son charged with molesting their foster children unveiled a bombshell: The son had admitted to “making out” with one of the victims years earlier yet continued to receive foster kids from around the Bay Area.
Simon Chavez Jr., 31, told an investigator with Contra Costa County Children and Family Services in 2013 that he’d inappropriately kissed a teen foster girl under his care, according to the testimony of an Antioch police detective. Both the defendant and the girl denied at the time that anything more had taken place.
It is unclear what action Children and Family Services took, but foster children continued to be placed in the Chavez home over the next six years. That came to a screeching halt last July, when Antioch police arrested Chavez Jr. and his father, Simon Chavez Sr., and charged them both with molesting and raping foster children at the home.
The allegations, publicly detailed for the first time in pretrial hearings in December and January, reveal there were five victims, some younger than 10 at the time. All were foster children of Chavez Sr. Some had siblings also under Chavez Sr.’s care and feared their families would be separated if they came forward, authorities said.
The foster home was on Bear Ridge Way in Antioch. Chavez Jr. — a California prison guard at the time of his arrest — lived in Atwater but was also a licensed foster parent who took care of the children at the Bear Ridge Way home, police testified.
One of the alleged victims is the teen girl who Chavez Jr. admitted in 2013 to kissing. Authorities now say they have evidence the girl was being raped at the time, and the Children Family Services investigation simply failed to uncover it.
Most of the 78 alleged offenses occurred after Chavez Jr. admitted to Children and Family Services that he made out with one of the girls. A detective also testified that the agency had fielded a 2009 complaint involving a girl at the home but didn’t describe the complaint in detail.
According to Tish Gallegos, a spokeswoman for Contra Costa’s Employment and Human Services Department, which oversees foster care for the county, the Chavez family was licensed by a private foster care agency, Alternative Family Services, which provides foster care services around the Bay Area and Sacramento.
Families certified through private agencies, which are overseen by the state Department of Social Services, can foster children from a variety of counties.
Gallegos would not comment on the Chavez case or investigation, citing state law that prevents the department from disclosing records — or portions of records — about children who are dependents of the state.
But she said that, generally, a prior complaint about a foster care family or guardian would not be automatic grounds for removing a child from a home or revoking the guardian’s certification. Some complaints are unfounded, she said, which would be determined through an investigation.
Representatives from Alternative Family Services declined to comment on the case or provide information about how their foster care families are vetted.
Chavez Sr. is charged with sexually abusing four girls, and Chavez Jr. is charged with sexually abusing two. One of the girls reported being molested by both father and son, according to police testimony.
A girl known in court records as Jane Doe 1 told police that when she was 11, Chavez Jr. began making sexual advances towards her. The molestation started soon after and lasted until she turned 17 and left the foster home.
One day, when Jane Doe 1 was 13, Chavez Sr. walked in on Chavez Jr. raping her, police testified. He began acting angry, grabbed the girl and took her away. But instead of bringing her to safety, Chavez Sr. brought the girl into his own bedroom, she later told police.
“(Chavez Sr.) said that she was going to do with him what she did with Simon Jr.,” Antioch police Detective Kelly Inabnett testified at the preliminary hearing. From then on, Chavez Sr. also began raping the girl at least once a week for the next four years, Inabnett testified.
The allegations came to light last May, when Jane Doe 1’s relative discovered a note in her purse from Chavez Jr. The note was several years old, addressed to “Honey Bunny” and had references to the girl’s “sexy body” and other suggestive innuendo. The aunt told Children and Family Services, which in turn informed Antioch police, who in turn interviewed every girl who’d lived at the house, Inabnett testified.
During cross-examination, Inabnett talked about the prior Children and Family Services investigation, in which Chavez Jr. admitted to kissing a teen girl known in court records as Jane Doe 5. The girl denied to the agency that anything sexual had occurred, but when police interviewed her last year, she said Chavez Jr. had “emotionally manipulated” her into sex when she was underage. Prosecutors charged Chavez Jr. with forcible rape of Jane Doe 5.
County child welfare departments are responsible for placing children with foster care homes, whether those homes are vetted and certified by foster family agencies like Alternative Family Services or by the county itself through a process it calls Resource Family Approval. When a foster family agency adds households to its network of foster care families, it offers them up to the county for placement or responds to county needs for placement homes.
Another Contra Costa foster parent accused of molestation
Three years before Chavez Sr. and Chavez Jr. were arrested and charged, another Contra Costa County foster parent died in a hail of police gunfire after he allegedly brandished an unloaded gun at SWAT officers who were trying to arrest him on suspicion of molesting a foster kid in his care.
The foster parent, Byron resident Michael Lee Mallett, 49, had been accused of molesting a young girl dozens of times. In March 2016, a team of Contra Costa County sheriff’s deputies showed up at Mallett’s home to arrest him, but he refused to surrender, leading to a standoff that lasted hours.
Police would later testify that six weeks before Mallett’s death, they’d arrested him on suspicion of molesting the girl. But county prosecution investigators needed to gather more evidence before charges could be filed, and Mallett was freed from jail. During the earlier arrest, authorities found a gun on Mallett but allowed him to keep it, police said.
Then, six weeks later, the armed standoff occurred when the officers arrived to arrest Mallett on a $1 million warrant for alleged child molestation. Mallett allegedly pointed the gun at a deputy, and police responded by opening fire. He suffered 13 gunshot wounds and died, according to police testimony at a coroner’s inquest hearing.
In 2018, the parents of Mallett’s alleged victim sued Contra Costa County, alleging the county improperly took their daughter away and placed her in Mallett’s care, where she was subsequently sexually abused. The lawsuit is still ongoing.”
[The Mercury News 02/7/2020 by Nate Gartell and Annie Sciacca]
These people haven’t even been convicted, and they are already on the wall of shame? I agree that sexual abuse is a heinous crime that is unforgiveable, but I think due process is at least owed first. Just my 2 cents.
umm..yep. If they are not convicted, I update the post with “case” so “Simon Chavez case”.
Horrible person.