GUILTY NM - Leland Valdez, 3, beaten to death, Pojoaque, 26 Jan 2011

"Nobody listened" little Leland's father told reporters.

Oh this poor, poor little guy. He'd only been back in the mother's custody since Christmas. Dad missed a court date, but had no idea that the court was allowing momster to come take the kids. There's also a little girl.

So much more at link including the grandparents having custody at one point.

Momsters 20 year old boyfriend has anger issues but doesn't take it out on little kids. Just adults.

Warning there's a photograph of this little doll with his face all bruised up.


http://www.abqjournal.com/news/state/27234790811newsstate01-27-11.htm

RIP little Leland. Poor baby.
 
Poor little thing.
 
:rose: :rose: :rose: :rose: :rose:
picture.php

:rose: :rose: :rose: :rose: :rose:​


Fly with the angels, little Leland & live where you'll always be cared for.
 
http://www.koat.com/r/27659681/detail.html

"She loves her children. She’d never, never do anything to harm those kids,” Stewart said.

Santa Fe County investigators paint a very different picture of the young mother and her boyfriend, Steven Gallegos. They said the 3-year-old was covered in bruises and suffering from devastating head trauma when he arrived at the hospital.

There is also the question of prior abuse. CYFD had been told that the child may be in danger as far back as August 2010. Stewart said that if anything did happen, it wasn’t at the hands of her daughter.
 
Abused children run to the abusers. They want to make it better. This grandmother / mother is in denile. IMO
 
Autopsy: Leland's death was homicide
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local News/Autopsy-determines-boy-s-death-a-homicide

The ruling of homicide as the manner of death confirms the findings of Santa Fe County Sheriff's investigators and prosecutors who say the boy was beaten to death by his mother, 22-year-old Tabetha Van Holtz, and her boyfriend, 20-year-old Steven Gallegos.

Additional Links on story:

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local News/-Leland-knew-love-

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local News/DA--Abuse-long-before-boy-s-death

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local News/Suit--Martinez-meddled-in-Leland-case

Must be held accountable for their actions
Snip:
On April 1, CYFD notified Donald Gallegos that he was being suspended for 15 days. Gabrielle James, his supervisor, was informed she was being terminated.

Sheriff Robert Garcia has acknowledged his office "dropped the ball" in its handling of the August allegations because Detective Donald Romero failed to forward his report to the district attorney's office until after Leland's death in January
 
Bond reductions denied in Leland Valdez abuse case

http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local News/Judge-denies-bond-reduction

SNIP:

Awaiting trial for a child-abuse death she denies is not reason enough for Tabetha Van Holtz to give birth behind bars.

"They absolutely don't believe Leland was abused the way everyone is saying he was," Marlowe said. "And his mother has told me she would not be paying for his defense if she wasn't 100 percent confident in his story. They (Van Holtz and Gallegos) just didn't do what they're being accused of doing."

WOW

Leland's biological father who reported abuse allegations in August and was arrested last month on domestic-abuse allegations himself, including a child-abuse charge.

This poor child, never had a safe home to begin with :(
 
From July 2014:

http://www.abqjournal.com/433043/ne...years-in-child-abuse-death-of-3-year-old.html

Steven Gallegos of Pojoaque pleaded guilty Monday to the January 2011 beating death of 3-year-old Leland Valdez, a case that sent shock waves through New Mexico’s child protection system.

In a plea agreement that averted a trial, Gallegos, 24, is to be sentenced to 21 years in prison – 18 years for child abuse resulting in death and three years for a second charge of child abuse not resulting in death.

From November 2014:

http://www.abqjournal.com/496058/news/jail-for-mom-in-death-of-3yearold-boy.html

n a Santa Fe courtroom, Tabetha Van Holtz, 25, was sentenced to nine years of incarceration, the maximum under a plea agreement, with two years suspended. She will get credit for almost four years of pre-sentence confinement, mostly under house arrest, and also is eligible for “good time” sentence reductions for good behavior in prison. The result is she could be released within the next two years.

Van Holtz, who had custody of Leland at the time of his death, despite prior child abuse accusations filed against her by the boy’s father, pleaded guilty in March to single counts of intentional child abuse resulting in great bodily harm and abandonment of a child resulting in death or great bodily harm...

The prosecutions had been complicated by a second pathology report that classified Leland’s manner of death as “undetermined.”
 

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