Complaint Review: Katherine J. Houston; Katie Smallcomb; Rebecca Dunsing; Marcella Runnings; Lorri Steele - Ukiah California

I was separated from my young child and held without cause after asking to use the restroom when I first arrive to pick up my son from juvy; they denied me this right, even though I have a documented medical condition and had just driven 2 hours in the rain to get there; I was asked how my brother died and upon telling them he died in a car accident, they informed me "your brother was murdered" and then they called police on me and tried to get me a 5150 but failed; and 2 hours later let me use the restroom and attempted to watch me with the door open and not let me have my time; they manhandled me and dragged me down the hallway as I attempted to peer if my son was okay, while he was being interviewed by CPS, which they'd called- when reviewing false statements in a police report that said that we had a tactical crossbow at our house & beer bottles in my son's room, though it should have read there was a "crowbar on the porch & rootbeer bottles" in the room.

They stated that my kids were in danger due to potential surveillance installed by a former tenant at our home, and I argued- there were no allegations of abuse or neglect, yet they took my young son. They didn't offer to "sweep" my house to rule this out, just automatically tried to have me ruled 5150 and in this day and age with technology the way it is, that is pretty ridiculous. I had in fact already had a security expert (from Ukiah) sweep my home and the existence of surveillance was found- we feel that it may have been from a former tenant that was monitoring his unfaithful wife, or possibly one of the other former tenants that was mad at the owner for having to leave when they were suspected of attempting to grow pot. There was no reason to overreact and act the way that they did, but it seems to be the norm for them to "make mistakes" bait & switch and abuse every aspect of their power as they see fit. The woman, Marcella S. Runnings who initiated this toward me, was actually up for a promotion and she and her supervisor sat there rubbing it in my face that because of what she was doing to us, she was going to get an even bigger office than she though. They are disgusting.

I had to see a Dr. to prove that I wasn't crazy and got my young son back from CPS in Ukiah- Cynthia attempted to block this, so I directed her to my attorney, and Lori Steele had called my son's grandmother while he was in their custody and informed her that "my son didn't love me and we had no parental bond" which is the farthest thing from the truth and this woman should burn in hell for this... Again, I was not accused of abusing my children, we were only there because my oldest son had gotten into trouble and they were going to release him to me. When we got there, they played classic bait and switch, and were actually planning to try and have me arrested, again, this would be the second time, but I did not go with them and called my attorney- we had my son back 2 hours later- much to CPS's disappointment!

If you don't already know, they get between 6 and 8 thousand dollars for permanently placing these kidnapped children in foster homes, where they are 70% more likely to be abused or neglected or even killed than if they had been left with their parents. There are no "services" to be had and we watched, while at their office in Ukiah, as a grandmotherly type came into re-do her fingerprints as she'd received a call that there had been a "mistake" with her fingerprints that she'd taken 6 weeks ago and she'd need to redo them- do you know what that means? That means that her grandbaby had been sitting in foster care for an additional 6 weeks waiting for her grammy to get approved to get her out of their clutches, and they were playing games. Their "mistakes" always seem to equate to you getting screwed over, believe me! There is a magic cut off date that says after all reunification efforts have failed, because they didn't happen within like 72 days, they can permanently place the child with a nonrelative- and they only get that kickback if the child is placed with a nonrelative, not the grandparents, which explains why we were blessed to have witnessed this that day! We have completed our plan with CPS, and Probation refused to acknowledge this in their reports while trying to take my older son away from me.

They stalled out for 3 months over Thanksgiving, Christmas and well into January, saying that my son needed a treatment plan before he'd be released. We got him a treatment plan and a private therapist to meet his and our family's needs, since we'd been through some things and needed some grief and loss counseling to heal. We were denied this, and my son has instead been shipped off without a treatment plan, no education plan as it relates to his IEP already in place where we live and into the murder capital of California, at Stockton in Boggs Tract- anyone who knows of this area can feel free to comment on it. My son called me and stated that he was afraid to go outside and walk his dog, and was thinking (but his dad hadn't done anything yet) of enrolling in homeschool because it was too dangerous to go to the local school and he was afraid to walk there due to the overwhelming possibility that he'd be shot and killed by gangs there; he did say that if he ever got the nerve take the dog for a walk, that he'd go down to the canal and fish for dead bodies to see how many he could pull out.... jokingly. I don't think it is funny at all, we lived by the coast, had a safe and good home and a school without gangs or hard drugs and he got to see the ocean every day! Now they've got him stuck in a place where he's placed himself on house arrest, and can't go outside, not like he'd want to, and can't even play sports. My son had been drinking alcohol that was being sold to him by local merchants who didn't realize the fruity drinks he was buying weren't sweet tea- and I know that alcohol is becoming a problem for him and it runs in his dad's family. So, they sent him to his alcoholic father's place, without even checking his home, and now my son is left home alone all day surrounded by alcohol day and night, in arguably the most dangerous area (Charter, Navy, Eighth, Fresno) of all of Stockton due to the warring Mexican gangs!

Mrs. Katie Smallcomb stated that "there were services to be had in Stockton" that could meet his needs and that there weren't services on the coast- this just simply isn't true. While you could get services, if you are talking about mental health through the county, we have already gone that route and never realized any success or gain from it. I had in place here, on the coast, the one thing that my son always needed, which was a licensed MFT (counselor) who would take our insurance! I also had mentoring and physical activities set up for him. Katie Smallcomb stated in Court that there weren't any opportunities here on the coast, yet we had set up for my son kayaking, stewardship, la crosse, a occupational apprenticeship and many other opportunities not even listed.  My son is very disappointed and is downright scared to be where he is and misses his little brother.

In Court, Mrs. Katie Smallcomb tried to allege that I was schizophrenic and needed "treatment" which the Dep. DA Kathryn J. Houston also tried to allege after reading all of Probation's lies in their typed and orally presented report. Our attorney reiterated that I had already passed a mental health examination, and was cleared. In fact, my attorney said that I "passed with flying colors" an exculpatory bit of information that they summarily left out of their slanderous libel. This is after we jumped through all their hoops and recommendations, had our house cleared for suitability, cleanliness and safety- we have no guns and I proved that I didn't have a mental health condition as they stated, by going to see a County Mental Health appointment psychiatrist!

Not only that, Probation typed into their report that I was "arrested and charged with murder Penal Code 187(a)...." and then released the next day and it is unknown whether or not the "victim" dies as a result of his injuries. Please, tell me, how can someone be charged with murder, if nobody was killed? Obviously, they didn't even know what they were talking about. I was involved in a self-defense related incident, wherein self defense was enacted and in furtherance of justice, I was never formally charged with any crime AS NO CRIME WAS COMMITTED and released from a holding cell soon after being taken in.  Probation admitted they couldn't find any information on this, and that is because there were no charges brought- to accuse me of murder- a crime that I didn't commit, is libelous defamation! They did this in Court and then used it as a reason my son could not be returned to me. In fact. not only was I never charged with a crime, the guy who shot at us (yes, me and my FRIEND  were shot at in a really, really bad neighborhood after warning the guy that did it that he should get a life and not come back to our neighborhood to hurt people or sell drugs there) was sentenced to over 8 years in prison for what he did, I was actually a victim- he was not the victim, as Probation stated in their report- again, twisted lies and assumptions, that have hurt our family.

Further, Probation tried to say that my son "had sexual contact at a very young age" and tried to represent this as if it was due to my negligence as a parent or parental unfitness- which is more slander and libel. They presumed that I was in custody and control of my son, solo when this occurred, but what they did not state were the facts- in that, my son was 3.5 yrs old AT A DAYCARE when he was sexually assaulted by an older 8 yrs. old child- and he was victim of rape- but there is no statute covering this crime.... My son was a victim of assault- not sexually "active" or having "sexual contact" and Probation attempted to make it look like my home was unsafe and that led to my son having sexual contact, so they tried to use that to make him a ward of the court! What they failed to realize is that his father and I were living together at the time, and he knows full well what happened to our son at that daycare, and how it wasn't our fault, because it was the straw that broke the camel's back in our relationship and we couldn't recover from the trauma and eventually broke up shortly after this happened to our son! I am hurt by their statements, and my son is hurting from their statements and when I spoke with him on the phone he was infuriated that they lied and twisted his words around to suit their malicious and biased attack on me!

We feel that a miscarriage of justice has occurred and that this type of abuse of power is commonplace within the ranks of their agency and that it must go all the way to the top. The top supervisor is Jim  O. Brown, followed by Jean S. Glantzner and under them, is where the real evil is, with Marcella "Marcy' Runnings, Rebecca Dunsing and a host of other actors, like Katie Smallcomb, the court Liaison who makes up arguments off the cuff as she goes along, in Court, knowing full well that her husband, the Bailiff, will protect her from anyone physically assaulting her if she pisses them off too bad. Everyone is talking about the nepotism and good ol' boy corruption in Mendocino County. They deliberately dropped all of the pot related charges that my son had against him, in a effort to not draw further attention to pot crimes in this county, as they are already under investigation by the Feds at this time. It was also to cover up the fact that my son was known to be needing intervention in March of 2012, yet they didn't do anything for him, despite repeated phone calls by me to their department, until he was in handcuffs on a related matter in November of the same year! I can hardly believe that they have the nerve to list Prevention of Delinquency as one of their "services" on the Mendocino County Juvenile Probation Department's website, when they themselves stated that they offer "no services" when I called them, 2 and half weeks before I had my son arrested following a dispute, that should have never happened if someone had done their job in a timely manner- they had citations sitting out there that were 8 months old on him, from the time he got caught with pot on the school bus (and believe me, I am the last one to know where that came from). They even tried to allege that me and my son have "domestic violence" instead of admitting that they don't deserve paychecks and that I was the only one trying to do anything for my son, like meeting with the school, having counseling written into his IEP at the school and going out all day and night trying to locate him and keep him located so that nothing bad happened to him, because he was starting to get out of control (he's 15 almost 16 now)...