A former Yucca Valley boy and his mother were awarded $113 million by a San Bernardino County jury earlier this month, who blamed a social worker with the county’s Children and Family Services department for not doing more to prevent severe child abuse that left the boy brain damaged and a quadriplegic. Noah Reed, now 10 years old and living in New York, was living with his father, Christopher Reed, now 32, and his girlfriend, Hannah Thompson, now 26, in the 8600 block of Palomar Avenue in Yucca Valley in 2013.
The three week-long trial provided evidence that the county social worker, Karen Perry, had failed to follow up and investigate claims of child abuse reported by a Sheriff’s deputy and the boy’s mother. Six months later, on May 18, 2014, the boy was hospitalized with severe head injuries which were inconsistent with Thompson’s claim that he had fallen off a stool. Thompson was sentenced in 2016 to 15 years in prison. The boy’s father pleaded guilty to misdemeanor child abuse and served 90 days in jail along with three years’ probation and a one-year batterer intervention program.
The jury found that the County CFS department was 85 percent responsible for the boy’s injuries, with the remainder split between his father and his girlfriend. A county spokesman said the county is deliberating about whether to appeal the verdict. Noah Reed is developmentally disabled, is in a wheelchair, and will need 24-7 care the rest of his life.
