A baby died on an L.A. County monitor’s watch. Her family claims she abused her kids

A woman appointed by the L.A. County Department of Children and Family Services to supervise visits between a troubled mother and her baby had a history of whipping her three daughters with belt buckles, drugging them with sleeping pills and feeding them only water and apples, according to a claim filed with the county.

The county child welfare agency had approved Secret Daniel, 30, to act as a monitor for supervised visits between Jessica Darthard, who was struggling with substance abuse, and her 17-month-old son, Justin Bulley.

The baby overdosed on fentanyl Feb. 18, 2024, on Daniel’s watch, after his grandfather, Jessie Darthard, smoked fentanyl on the couch next to him, then fell asleep, according to prosecutors.

Darthard and her father have been charged with murder, and Daniel has been charged with child abuse in connection with Justin’s death.

A Times investigation last year found that the child welfare agency had approved Daniel to supervise the visits, unaware that she was a close friend of the baby’s mother and lived with her in a Lancaster home where drug use was rampant. Justin and his two older siblings lived in a different home with a foster mother.

The women’s shared residence was one of many glaring warning signs that social workers missed when they allowed Daniel to be the monitor, according to the March 21 claim, a precursor to what relatives of Daniel’s daughters said will be a $75-million lawsuit against the county. The suit will be filed on behalf of the three daughters, ages 3, 8 and 10.

Julie Fileto, the paternal grandmother of Daniel’s daughters, said that the girls “had a lot of scars on their body — bruises on their face” and that the two mothers would “throw them outside in the middle of the night, just lock the doors.”

“They have nightmares at night,” said Fileto, who described the children as deeply traumatized.

Justin Bulley on a supervised visit with his father, Montise.

(Montise Bulley)

The three girls lived in the Lancaster home where Justin visited his mother, according to the family, who announced the legal action at a news conference Thursday. Daniel’s 10-year-old daughter was often the one taking care of him on these visits, according to the family.

Daniel’s attorney declined to comment.

When Fileto got custody of her three grandchildren last year, she said they were so malnourished that their bones were showing. She had not seen them since Daniel became pregnant with the youngest in the spring of 2021.

After working with a therapist, the children have slowly begun speaking about the abuse as they grew more at ease in their new home, playing softball and returning to school after an absence of several years, Fileto said.

Some of the alleged abuse took place while Daniel was supposed to be serving as a neutral monitor for Darthard’s DCFS-sanctioned visits with her son. DCFS had removed Justin and Darthard’s other two children from her custody after her boyfriend fatally overdosed on fentanyl while the children were at home. The removal followed at least three other DCFS investigations into Darthard over the last decade. Half a year before Justin died, she crashed while driving drunk with him in the back seat, unbuckled.

When DCFS social workers came to the Lancaster home, apparently to check on how Darthard’s supervised visits were going, Fileto said, the children were told to hide.

“DCFS approved an abusive mother to monitor an abusive mother,” said Brian Claypool, an attorney for Daniel’s three children. “It’s almost like putting gasoline on a match.”

Claypool has represented families whose loved ones died in horrific child abuse cases, including Anthony Avalos, a 10-year-old who was murdered by his mother and her boyfriend.

The attorney is also representing Justin’s father, Montise Bulley, in a separate $65-million lawsuit against the county. Bulley, a truck driver who had also lost custody of Justin, has said the county was careless with his son’s life.

Montise Bulley at his son Justin’s grave in Inglewood.

(Zoe Cranfill / Los Angeles Times)

In addition to charging the Darthards with Justin’s murder, prosecutors have charged the boy’s mother with felony child abuse and child molestation. Daniel has been charged with felony child abuse.

The allegations of severe abuse against Daniel deepen questions about how DCFS social workers decide who should be responsible for overseeing visits between vulnerable children and troubled parents. The court can appoint an independent observer to monitor visits, but parents can also sometimes choose family friends and relatives.

DCFS said in a statement that it was “our sincere hope that all those affected by this tragedy find healing as they move forward.” A DCFS spokesperson directed The Times to the department’s policy on supervised visits, which does not address whether a monitor can live with a parent but notes there should be “no conflicts of interest.”

Claypool argued in an interview that the abuse in the home should have been well-known to social workers, who were expected to make routine visits to Darthard’s home, which he said was infamous in the neighborhood for drug deals.

According to the claim, DCFS was investigating whether Daniel abused or neglected her own children when social workers approved her as a monitor for Darthard’s children. DCFS declined to comment on whether it had an open case against Daniel when Justin died.

The claim also alleges that Daniel sold food stamps for drugs, plied her daughters with sleeping pills and alcohol at night and kicked them out of the home in the middle of the night, forcing them to roam the streets to find somewhere to sleep. Daniel watched as her older two girls were molested by Darthard, and the two mothers encouraged the older two girls to watch porn with them, the claim says.

“What we’re seeing here is massive colossal red flags in every direction,” Claypool said. “Why she was ever considered a monitor will never make any sense.”