Child Welfare on Trial
Investigative Report: Crimes in San Diego Dependency Court
Judges Who Enabled the Abuse
Judge Alexander Calero – Silenced objections, ejected family members, greenlit retaliation, and enabled perjury and case-fixing. Presided over hearings where constitutional rights were ignored and children’s trauma dismissed.
Judge Gary M. Bubis – Signed the original unwarranted detention order that began the chain of unlawful custody.
Judge Michael Pulos – Approved international travel orders that trafficked children overseas to the Dominican Republic.
County Counsel & Guardian ad Litem Office
Jesica Nicole Fellman (County Counsel) – Weaponized her position to push retaliation. Advocated for forced injections of children against parental wishes, treating minors like lab experiments.
Nicole McConn (GAL Supervisor) – Abused her authority by obtaining a restraining order not only against a grandfather but against his own grandchildren — a move without precedent or justification.
Lisa Haight (Guardian ad Litem) – Engaged in a year-long campaign of character assassination, targeting family instead of protecting the children.
Child Welfare Services (CWS) Social Workers
David Miller – Called a psychopath by families. Retaliated against relatives, fabricated reports, and backed a non-relative caregiver. Repeated the false claim “the children are happy with Norma” for over a year, despite video evidence of screaming, crying children begging to go home.
Ashlee Purnell – Known as the “baby hunter.” Tracked a mother across state lines, threatened her with U.S. Marshals over a misdemeanor that was dropped, jailed her for five days, making her miss her breastfeeding baby’s first birthday, then filed false claims of stalking, abuse, and sexual assault.
Annel Navarro – Coerced a toddler into false statements to sabotage reunification.
Nicole Montzingo (Supervisor) – Directed retaliation after Miller’s exposure, isolated the mother, and oversaw sexual abuse cover-ups, including smuggling children from a hospital during a police investigation.
Crystal Felusme – Filed false reports on both the mother and grandfather.
Kat – Inserted false reports in the record and threatened contempt if the truth surfaced.
Chantal Hill – One of the original caseworkers who removed the children in June 2024.
Caregivers and Co-Conspirators
Norma Olivares – A non-relative “caregiver” who positioned herself to seize the children. Accused of fraudulent adoption attempts, fabricating abuse claims, alienating the children, and plotting to traffic them abroad.
Ronald Rivas Silverio – Norma’s partner and enabler, with no biological connection to the children.
Other CWS Actors
Melissa Sanchez – Helped obstruct reunification and falsify documentation.
Gizel Aquino – Complicit in producing false reports that harmed the family.
Leadership & Oversight
Kimberly Giardina (Director, Child & Family Well-Being) – Oversaw the department while abuse persisted. Her silence made her complicit.
Alfredo Guardado (Deputy Director) – Made empty promises to families and then looked the other way as retaliation continued.
Supervisor Monica Montgomery Steppe – The elected Board of Supervisors member whose office wielded ultimate authority. Families report no real intervention to stop the abuse.
Mariah Jameson (Policy Associate) – Staff to Supervisor Montgomery Steppe. Met with the family twice, offered hope, then dismissed their struggle with: “Just listen to the agency.”
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