Jury awards man $33 million, says San Bernardino County did not report mother’s baby neglect

A San Bernardino County jury has awarded a person $33 million after it concluded that sheriff’s deputies and a county welfare-fraud investigator did not report that his mom uncared for him as a baby and that the neglect led to him being sexually abused by one of many deputies, the sufferer’s lawyer mentioned.

Because the jury assessed some damages to folks not named within the case, the county is definitely on the hook for $27.5 million.

The abuse occurred after the sufferer moved in with Deputy Jeremie Russell Cox in Yucca Valley in 2014 when he was 14, mentioned his lawyer, Christopher J. Keane, who filed the lawsuit in 2021. The abuse lasted till the boy moved out at age 21, Keane mentioned.

“I’m hopeful he takes some consolation that his fellow residents determined what occurred to him was unsuitable,” Keane mentioned. “I hope all people takes baby abuse and baby neglect reporting extra significantly.”

The county’s attorneys plan to file motions difficult the decision, county spokesman David Wert mentioned with out elaboration.

Keane mentioned the county argued that there was no proof of neglect and that Cox made up that allegation to justify taking the boy in.

The Southern California News Group doesn’t sometimes title sex-abuse victims except they request it.

Cox testified within the civil case that he met the boy when he caught him and his pals vandalizing a house, Keane mentioned, and finally took the boy in, away from a troubling dwelling life.

Cox, who had most just lately labored on the Morongo Basin jail in a 25-year Sheriff’s Department profession, was arrested in 2021 after the boy moved out and apparently reported the abuse.

In 2022, Cox was sentenced to eight years in state jail after he pleaded responsible to eight counts of lewd acts with a baby 14 or 15 years outdated and two counts of oral copulation on an individual youthful than 16, Superior Court data present. Cox was denied parole in 2023 and in 2024, in keeping with state jail data.

The crimes weren’t related to Cox’s duties, sheriff’s spokeswoman Gloria Huerta mentioned.

The jury selected Sept. 23 to award $11 million in financial damages and $22 million in non-economic damages. The judge mentioned the county was 75% chargeable for the $22 million — or $16.5 million for the $27.5 million complete.

In the payout, moreover Cox, in a lot lesser quantities, the judge assigned legal responsibility percentages to a welfare-fraud investigator and a Cox supervisor, each accused of understanding the mother’s neglect, and one other deputy who the boy allegedly had relayed his tales of neglect to, Keane mentioned. Those assessments had been tied to their jobs and for not reporting the alleged mother’s neglect.

In the 25% the county isn’t chargeable for, the jury discovered further fault with Cox and fault with the boy’s mom as people, however they weren’t a part of the lawsuit so these damages don’t have to be paid, Keane mentioned.

The jury, Keane mentioned, decided the neglect led to the sexual abuse.