Sacramento County's Child Protective Services "could have - and should have - done more" to protect a 4-year-old boy, beaten to death this week despite the agency's attempts to intervene, a top county official acknowledged Thursday.
Lynn Frank, director of the Department of Heath and Human Services, which oversees CPS, said the social worker involved in the child's case has been placed on administrative leave, pending further review.
A 26-year-old former security guard has been arrested in the death of 4-year-old Jahmaurae Allen. Sheriff's officials say the child was beaten to death inside his mother's Foothill Farms apartment in the 4400 block of Oakhollow Drive early Monday.
Deputies and paramedics arrived at the apartment complex off Roseville Road after receiving a 911 call about an unconscious child at 3:41 a.m. Monday, sheriff's Sgt. Tim Curran said. The boy was home with his 18-month-old sister and his mother's boyfriend, 6-foot-4-inch, 250-pound Jonathan Lamar Perry.
The boy was rushed to Mercy San Juan Medical Center with massive head and internal injuries, Curran said. At 9:30 that night, the boy was transferred to the UC Davis Medical Center, where he was pronounced dead at 11:10 p.m.
CPS had received allegations of possible abuse involving Jahmaurae a month before his death. The Bee has been unable to review the child's CPS file, but three sources told The Bee that a medical professional had reported suspicious injuries to the agency in June. Jahmaurae reportedly had a large bruise on his chest, but the social worker thought it could have been caused by his 3-year-old sibling, and the three children were not removed from the home, the sources said.
The case marks the fifth suspected child abuse and neglect homicide in Sacramento County this year. Four of those children were known to CPS at the time they were killed.
Perry was under observation in a psychiatric cell today after he indicated a desire to harm himself, Sacramento County Sheriff's officials said.
He was scheduled to be arraigned today but arraignment was rescheduled for 1:30 p.m. Friday.
Perry is being held at the Sacramento County jail on murder and child endangerment charges.
The Bee's Sam Stanton contributed to this report.
