How Could You? Hall of Shame-Michael Mallett

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.

A 2016 case is revealed.

From Costa Contra County, California, “in 2016, a 49-year-old Costa Contra County foster parent named Michael Mallett committed “suicide by police,” when three officers shot and killed him at his home after a 12-hour standoff, while trying to arrest him on child molestation charges.

A probable cause affidavit obtained by The Epoch Times shows that Mallett was wanted for 12 counts of “Lewd Act Upon a Child” under 14 years old.

“MICHAEL LEE MALLETT did willfully, unlawfully, and lewdly commit a lewd and lascivious act upon and with the body and certain parts and members of thereof of JANE DOE, a child under the age of fourteen years, with the intent of arousing, appealing to, and gratifying the lust, passions and sexual desires of the said defendant, MICHAEL LEE MALLETT, and the said child,” the affidavit states.

Doris C., 84, who had been raising her great-granddaughter, said that the girl was removed from her home when someone fired a gun in her driveway and pierced her tire, prompting CPS to link the house to gang activity, which she denies.

She told The Epoch Times that the preteen African-American child was placed in Mallett’s home, which she never would have known until a social worker disclosed that, and CPS actually retaliated against the social worker for sharing the information, Doris said.

The girl’s experience in foster homes—including with Mallett, who the girl called “Pops”—was disturbing.

“When she came to see me on a visit, she had on some different clothes and thongs on, in the winter,” Doris said, noting that the clothes she bought for her great-granddaughter were either bleached or taken by another child in the foster home, and that the school routinely couldn’t reach her foster mother.

In at least one foster home, Doris’s great-granddaughter was the possible victim of sexual abuse investigated by government officials, according to a social worker’s recounting of the incident to Carter.

“I heard that the older girl at this foster home had videos on her cell phone of [her great-granddaughter] and her little brother. She supposedly had her little brother do some sexual things with [the great-granddaughter],” Doris said. She was on a supervised visit when two men, including a detective, entered the house to investigate.

The girl and young boy both denied the sexual activity, and authorities failed to find the phone where the videos allegedly existed.

“They went there to the home to confiscate the phone, and there was no phone,” Doris said.

Doris said that her great-granddaughter told her that a social worker coerced her to claim that she had been touched inappropriately by a male cousin at Doris’s house—a claim that she strongly denies and the girl’s school psychologist also strongly doubts.

Bill Sorensen, the school psychologist at the specialized Marcus School, which Doris’s great-granddaughter attended, told The Epoch Times that the girl was doing extremely well until she was moved out of Doris’s home and into foster care. Then, her behavior deteriorated.

Sorensen remembers being very concerned about Michael Mallett’s home, where the girl was staying. Mallett’s female significant other, the foster mother in the home, showed up to at least one status meeting for Doris’s great-granddaughter.

“She was not cooperative,” Sorensen said of the foster mother. “It was not good. It should have been a red flag right there. Her attitude was, she didn’t want to be there. She was not forthcoming. She was very cold and shut down.”

Sorensen remains worried about Doris’s great-granddaughter.

“I can say it seemed like she was under threat from CPS to cooperate. Everything was, if she does x, y, and z then she would get to go home to her great-grandmother. I think she would have done absolutely anything to go home,” Sorensen said.

“When you get in this system and are attractive, you are at high risk. Many of these children get addicted to drugs in return for favors,” Sorensen said.

Abuse Alleged for 4 Years

Fred K.’s daughter, who is now back in his custody, was also in Mallett’s home in Contra Costa County.

“Apparently, an 11-year-old girl who was living on the same property with [my daughter], she said something,” Fred told The Epoch Times. “She said that she was molested for some time while being there, for four years. She finally said something when she was 11.”

“CPS is not willing to take any responsibility for it. I confronted CPS about it, and they said you should be happy you got your kids back, and if you have a problem with what we did, then get a lawyer.

“They said, ‘We had no way of knowing at that time, we checked his background and he came back clear.’” Fred’s daughter is now 12 years old, and says she was physically abused at the foster home.

“She’s still having a lot of problems and suffering from trauma from being abused. She said once that she didn’t finish her dinner once, and she got picked up and thrown in her room.”

Whether formal charges are ever filed, many kids who cycle through the Contra Costa CPS system are clearly in danger, as many witnesses observe.”

A Betrayal of Trust: Child Molestation Alleged in Contra Costa CPS

[The Epoch Times 8/28/19 by Patrick Howley]

REFORM Puzzle Piece