LELAND VALDEZ - 3 yo (2011) - / Convicted: Mother and boyfriend, Tabetha Van Holtz and Steven Gallegos - Pojoaque, NM

2 CYFD Workers On Leave Following Boy's Death

3-Year-Old Dead From Apparent Beating, Police Say
POSTED: 10:46 am MST January 27, 2011

ALBUQUERQUE, N.M. -- A
3-year-old is dead after what investigators call a horrific case of
child abuse, and a case worker and supervisor from the Children Youth
and Families Department could lose their jobs because of it.The
boy's case has been on CYFD's radar for months. CYFD is investigated the
child's mother and her boyfriend for child abuse a few months ago, but
the case was dropped."This is a case that causes a lot of concern," CYFD spokeswoman Romaine Serna said.CYFD said it investigated Tabetha Vanholtz and Steven Gallegos for allegations of abuse against Leland Valdez back in August.The boy's father reported that his son's back, legs, chest and arms were badly bruised.Despite those injuries, CYFD couldn't find enough evidence to take action."They couldn't figure out who hit him. They didn't know if it was her or him so they dropped the case," said the boy's father.The
case agent and a supervisor have been put on administrative leave while
the agency examines if they did enough to protect the child."We have concerns to say the least about the decisions that were made regarding this particular case," Serna said.When
it comes to this week's fatal incident, investigators at the Santa Fe
County Sheriff's Department said it's one of the worst child abuse cases
they've ever encountered."This one is pretty disturbing because of the injuries," Santa Fe County Undersheriff Rob Madrid said.Investigators said they still have a lot of questions about what exactly happened to the little boy.CYFD said it could take a few weeks to investigate those workers who are now on administrative leave.The child's mother and her boyfriend are in the Santa Fe County jail and have been charged with child abuse resulting in death.

http://www.koat.com/news/26638375/detail.html

Governor steps into fatal child-abuse probe
While Andrew Valdez on Friday finalized funeral arrangements for his 3-year-old son, Leland, New Mexico's new governor got involved in an investigation into what the state could have done to save the boy's life.

Gov. Susana Martinez, a former Las Cruces prosecutor, isn't shying away from declaring that decisions by at least one state Children, Youth and Families Department employee responsible for handling past abuse allegations involving the boy are being placed under a microscope.

"Needless to say, CYFD policies of the previous administration will change," Martinez spokesman Scott Darnell said in an e-mailed statement late Friday.

Darnell confirmed that CYFD caseworker Donald Romero and his supervisor, Gabriella James, have been placed on paid administrative leave while the state looks into the decisions that led James not to authorize removal of the child. While Romero is also on leave for the time being, it appears James, who did not return a telephone message Friday seeking comment, is the primary focus of the internal investigation.

"This individual has been placed on administrative leave and every case in which this individual was involved is being reviewed," Darnell stated in an e-mail. "The Governor is deeply concerned and has been personally involved in working with the cabinet secretary (Yolanda Berumen-Deines) to get to the bottom of this."

The Governor's Office would not elaborate further, except to clarify that the "individual" referenced as the primary target of the internal investigation is James.

CYFD spokeswoman Romaine Serna, who on Wednesday had said, "This boy was failed somewhere, and we need to find out where," told a reporter Friday that she could no longer take media inquiries about the case and referred all questions to the Governor's Office.

While the move is unusual, it is in line with Martinez's campaign statements about her passion regarding child-abuse cases.

The child died at 8:53 a.m. Wednesday in an Albuquerque hospital room, two days after his mother and her boyfriend say he fell off a kitchen chair in their Pojoaque home, hitting his head.

Doctors and police investigators didn't buy the couple's account, concluding that the bruises and abrasions covering most of the toddler's body were the result of repeated physical abuse over a period of time and that the injuries were at "varying stages of the healing process," an arrest warrant affidavit states.

Tabetha Van Holtz, 22, who is pregnant with her third child, and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Steven Gallegos, remain in the Santa Fe County jail in lieu of $500,000 cash bonds, each charged with child abuse resulting in death. If convicted of the first-degree felony, each could face a mandatory
18 years in prison.

Andrew Valdez, Leland's biological father, who was mired in months of custody battles with Van Holtz over Leland and his 4-year-old sister, Alyssa, filed a complaint with CYFD in August after he said he found bruising all over Leland's body.

"I asked him what happened, and he told me, 'Mommy hit me in my tummy,' " Andrew Valdez told The New Mexican earlier this week. "And Alyssa told me 'Mommy's boyfriend' would hit him, too."

CYFD looked into the allegations but determined there was not enough evidence to remove the child from his mother's custody.

Andrew Valdez said Romero, the caseworker, despite being the one who told him CYFD had to close the case and return the children to Van Holtz, "seemed real nice and worked hard, but it just seemed like it was out of his hands."

The 25-year-old father, who has since married and has a 1-month-old son, accompanied Leland's body from Albuquerque back to an Española funeral home on Friday after an autopsy was completed. He said he hopes the governor's involvement in the matter will help.

"I can hope that is a good thing and something good comes from it," he said.

Valdez said that as long as all involved don't make it into a political matter and remember this is about "the system failing my son," then he's all for the Governor's Office taking an active role in the investigation.

Public visitation for Leland will be held at Our Lady of Guadalupe Catholic Church in Pojoaque at 6 p.m. Sunday with a wake at 7 p.m., according to DeVargas Funeral Home in Española. A second wake is scheduled for 7 p.m. Monday at the church. Funeral services are set for 10 a.m. Tuesday at the church, with burial to follow at the Nambé Catholic Cemetery.

A fund to help with expenses has been established at Wells Fargo Bank under "Leland Valdez Memorial Fund."
http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Local%20News/Gov--steps-into-fatal-child-abuse-probe

Gov. Susana Martinez is cleaning house at the Children Youth and Families Department.The
CFYD has been at the center of several high-profile incidents,
including one last week where a child died, and the worker who was
supposed to be investigating was the subject of three child abuse
investigations.The shakeup has already started, and Martinez said she and the new CYFD secretary are starting at the top.“We're
going to hold people accountable every single day,” Martinez said. “We
have had a lot of situations that have been questionable in that agency,
so that's my focus right now.”Martinez tells Target 7 that CYFD has been protecting the wrong people.“It is not the job of CYFD to protect employees. It's the job of CYFD to protect kids,” Martinez said.On
the spotlight was a CYFD employee, in charge of investigating the death
of 3-year-old Leland Valdez, who was investigated herself for abusing
her foster child three times in eight months, authorities said.“No
one should ever work in an agency, where the mission of the agency is
to protect children, who have actually been accused of and it has been
substantiated that they have abused a child,” Martinez said.The woman was never charged and kept her job. Martinez, however, said that a reality check is coming and no one's job is safe.“Like
in every other profession, you have a handful of folks that don't
belong there. And we're going to weed them out,” Martinez said.Personnel,
policies and procedures are in the middle of a major overhaul, and as a
former prosecutor who worked with CYFD for 25 years, Martinez said she
has a perspective on what's working and what's not.“I want to
know what's happening in that agency and I want to know who's responding
and how to make sure that there isn't anyone who isn't going to be held
accountable,” Martinez said.
http://www.koat.com/politics/26723876/detail.html

Father Reacts As Couple Face Abuse Charges In 3yo Leland Valdezs Beating Death
Judge bans T-shirts bearing Leland's image from courtroom

           For the first time since the highly publicized death of his 3-year-old son in January, Andrew Valdez was in the same room with the couple accused of beating the child.

           "I felt a lot of anger when they walked in," Andrew Valdez said of Monday's encounter at state District Court in Santa Fe. "There was nothing I could do, but I was so full of anger at that moment."

           Dressed in a white T-shirt bearing a picture of his son, Leland, Valdez told a reporter he was happy to see the boy's mother, 22-year-old Tabetha Van Holtz, and her 20-year-old boyfriend, Steven Gallegos, finally face the charges against them.

           Van Holtz, who is seven months' pregnant, was wearing a tan jumpsuit and shackles as she stood next to her attorney, Jeff Buckels, and quietly entered a not-guilty plea at her arraignment before Judge Stephen Pfeffer.

           Gallegos, wearing a red jumpsuit and shackles, entered the same plea, accompanied by his privately hired attorney, Dan Marlowe, who said he feels his client and Van Holtz should be released from custody.

           "At this point, I think the presumption of innocence is high," Marlowe said, later pointing out that state prosecutors filed a criminal complaint rather than presenting evidence to a grand jury in a closed-door proceeding.

           Van Holtz and Gallegos each face life sentences if convicted. In addition to a count of child abuse resulting in death, each is charged with other allegations of abuse that prosecutors say occurred before Jan. 24, the day they brought Leland to a Santa Fe hospital after he had stopped breathing. Doctors said they found the boy bruised throughout his body.

           Without the pathology reports on Leland's death from the state Office of the Medical Investigator in Albuquerque, which haven't been released, Marlowe argued that "we don't even know what the cause of death was, and there is no reason to keep them in jail right now."

           While Marlowe and Buckels asked for significantly reduced bonds for their clients, who have been incarcerated in the Santa Fe County jail since Jan. 24 in lieu of $500,000 cash-only bonds, Deputy District Attorney Cynthia Hill was adamant in opposing any such reduction.

           "This is a heinous case where a young man was beaten to death," Hill said.

           Pfeffer compromised, lowering the bond amounts to $300,000 cash or property.

           Before the hearing began, most of the three dozen friends and family members on hand to support Andrew Valdez were told they were not allowed to wear T-shirts with Leland's picture in the courtroom. Andrew Valdez put another shirt over his T-shirt.

           Pfeffer said he was "sensitive" to their wishes to display the shirts but pointed out that as a criminal judge, he must also consider defendants' rights.

           The judge and the prosecutor sparred over Pfeffer's decision to bar the T-shirts from the hearing, until Pfeffer interrupted Hill, saying, "I am not going to debate this anymore."

           Hill said she wanted the record to reflect she felt the judge was "trampling on the victim's rights." The judge pointed out that had the prosecutor contacted him before the hearing, he could have considered allowing the display, but she didn't do so.

           Before the arraignment, and unbeknownst to most of those in attendance in the hearing, Hill had filed a notice to remove Pfeffer from the case and to transfer the matter into Division 4, Judge Michael Vigil's court.
           [...]
           While Gallegos and Van Holtz were both arrested Jan. 24 on charges of child abuse resulting in death, the criminal complaint filed last week added a charge against Gallegos that accuses him of abusing the boy from Jan. 2 through Jan. 23. It also added two abuse charges against Van Holtz, alleging abuse of Leland and his older sister on Aug. 2.

           That is when Andrew Valdez filed complaints with both the Santa Fe County Sheriff's Office and the state Children, Youth and Families Department.

           CYFD's handling of the case prompted the department to try to fire a supervisor — a still-unresolved matter. The sheriff's report on the case was never forwarded to the District Attorney's Office for possible criminal charges until after the boy's January death, leading to an ongoing internal investigation.

           Andrew Valdez said he was touched by a call he received from the Governor's Office on Sunday informing him of an executive order signed by Gov. Susana Martinez, which calls for flags to be flown at half-staff through April 11 in honor of child-abuse victims.

       http://www.santafenewmexican.com/Sa...anger--Father-reacts-as-couple-face-abuse-cha

Mother accused in son’s death blames co-defendant

Posted: Thursday, March 21, 2013 9:00 pm | Updated: 9:26 am, Fri Mar 22, 2013.

By Nico Roesler
The New Mexican | 5 comments

The mother of Leland Valdez, a 3-year-old Pojoaque boy who died from injuries in 2011, is claiming her boyfriend at the time beat the child weeks before his death.

Tabetha Van Holtz, 24, filed a motion in state District Court last week arguing that her former boyfriend, Steven Gallegos, 22, hit the child in a parking lot and that the injuries from that beating contributed to Leland’s death Jan. 26, 2011.

Both Van Holtz, of Santa Fe, and Gallegos, of Pojoaque, were charged with child abuse resulting in death and several counts of child abuse resulting in great bodily harm.

The 2-year-old case, which has landed in state District Judge Frank Mathew’s court — after bouncing around the courtrooms of five other judges — might be split into two separate trials. Van Holtz and Gallegos are scheduled to be tried together in July, but Van Holtz’s lawyer, Jeffrey Buckels, says they should be tried separately because her defense will be “antagonistic” toward Gallegos.

In the motion filed by Buckels, Van Holtz alleges Gallegos beat Leland in a grocery store parking lot. Two witnesses reportedly saw him slap the child on his head like he was “striking an adult,” the motion says, adding that Gallegos then grabbed Leland by the back of the neck, yelled in his face and threw the boy into the back seat of the car.

Van Holtz says she did not know of this beating when she and Gallegos took Leland to a hospital, where they reportedly told emergency room doctors he had fallen off a kitchen chair and had a seizure. The child died two days later.

Buckels’ motion argues that the parking lot beating could explain the injuries that led to Leland’s death. It also states that defense witnesses would testify that the child had a pre-existing subdural hematoma.

“This evidence makes it less probable that Ms. Van Holtz committed child abuse,” Buckels argues.

In order to present this evidence, Buckels claims, Van Holtz and Gallegos must be tried separately.

“Either the Court admits the evidence in the joint trial and deprives Mr. Gallegos of a fair trial, or the Court excludes the evidence and deprives Ms. Van Holtz of her constitutional right to present a defense,” the motion says.

Van Holtz claims in the motion that Gallegos has mental health problems, takes medication for anger management and has attempted suicide. It also says he has “a general penchant for violence.”

Gallegos’ attorney, Dan Marlowe, said Thursday that he thinks the two have a “common defense” and that their trials should not be separated.

Leland’s father, Andrew Valdez, has filed a lawsuit against the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office, claiming it botched investigations into claims of abuse dating back to August 2010. Valdez states in his complaint that he reported possible abuse of his son to the sheriff’s office and the state Children, Youth and Families Department and told officials that Leland had said, “Mommy hit me.”

The sheriff’s office has acknowledged the mishandling of the 2010 reports, and two CYFD employees were disciplined over the case.

The 2010 incident was part of the grand jury indictment charging Van Holtz and Gallegos with two counts of child abuse resulting in great bodily harm.

Marlowe and Buckels both agree that those charges should be tried separately from the charges of child abuse resulting in death.


http://www.santafenewmexican.com/news/local_news/article_2b11882e-a101-51f9-96ff-63a74b7e9900.html

Plea deal rejected in 2011 fatal child abuse case

Posted: 12:05 am



An on-again, off-again plea agreement in the death of a three-year-old Pojoaque boy fell apart on Friday when the defendant refused to plead guilty to a charge of negligent abuse of a child, the lesser of the two most serious charges against him.

Steven Gallegos appeared in state District Court in Santa Fe on Friday but rejected a plea deal on charges he faces for the January 2011 death of three-year-old Leland Valdez of Pojoaque. His trial is now scheduled for July. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)


Steven Gallegos rejected the plea deal, in which the maximum penalty would have been 18 years in prison, and will now go to trial, his attorney Dan Marlowe said following a short hearing in state District Court.

Gallegos is charged with three counts of negligent child abuse and one count of intentional child abuse resulting in death in the case of Leland Valdez, who authorities say was beaten to death in January 2011.

“Mr. Gallegos feels he is completely innocent of these charges, and he does not want to plead guilty to anything,” Marlowe said. “The plea fell apart because Mr. Gallegos does not feel he is guilty of this … and he wants his day in court.”

Little Leland’s death while he was in the care of Gallegos and the boy’s mother, Tabetha Van Holtz, set off legal and government controversies similar to those in the recent death of nine-year-old Omaree Varela in Albuquerque.

Both the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office and the state Children Youth and Families Department had previously investigated alleged abuse of Leland reported by his father while the boy was in Van Holtz’s custody in August 2010, just a few months before his death.

A sheriff’s deputy failed to pass on a report in that case to the District Attorney’s Office for possible charges until Leland had been killed. Sheriff Robert Garcia has acknowledged the mistake. A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Leland’s father Andrew Valdez against the county is pending.

CYFD also failed to substantiate abuse after the initial report by the father. One CYFD worker was fired and another was suspended in the wake of Leland’s death.

Leland’s stepmother said Friday the family wants the case to move forward.

“The DA told us he (Gallegos) had rejected the plea because he didn’t think it was fair,” said Angela Valdez. “He wants people to believe he didn’t do anything. We are outraged by how long the process has taken and how much the Valdez family has gone through.”

Defense attorney Marlowe said of Gallegos, “This is a courageous thing he is doing here, you have to prove your innocence … the public is hugely prejudiced against these type of charges from the very beginning.”

The trial is now set for the week of July 28. On the most serious charge of intentional child abuse resulting in death, Gallegos faces a potential sentence of 30 years in prison, tantamount to life in New Mexico if parole requests are denied, said Marlowe.

Tabetha Van Holtz, left, the mother of Leland Valdez, who was three years old when he died from what authorities say was child abuse while in her custody, appears in court in 2011 with defense attorney Jeff Buckles. Holtz, who was pregnant with another child at the time, is set to go on trial for charges in Leland’s death in March. (Eddie Moore/Albuquerque Journal)

Van Holtz, Leland’s mom, is also charged with intentional child abuse resulting in death and with two counts of negligent child abuse, said Williams. Her case, which is severed from the Gallegos’ case, is set to go to trial in March.

Chair fall claimed
The boy died on Jan. 26, 2011, at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, two days after he was airlifted there after treatment in Santa Fe for severe body and head injuries.

Gallegos and Van Holtz said the boy fell off a kitchen chair and started “having seizures and convulsions,” according to a probable cause statement for their arrests. But the injuries were inconsistent with that version of events and his body was covered with old injuries, a hospital doctor told authorities.

The state Office of the Medical Investigator determined that the boy died of “blunt force injuries” and that his death was a homicide.

On Friday, Marlowe telephoned Dr. John Plunkett, a forensic psychologist who will testify for the defense, during a brief break in Gallegos’ hearing before District Judge Francis J. Mathew. Marlowe told the judge that Plunkett would be available for the July trial date.

Plunkett, of Hastings, Minn., an expert on shaken baby cases, was tried and acquitted in Oregon in 2005 of two misdemeanor counts of giving false testimony during a child abuse case that resulted in death.

Plunkett alleged the prosecution “wanted to take me out because I’ve been very vocal in the area of correctly understanding the mechanics of infant head injuries,” according to an American Bar Association Journal story.

But Michael Dugan, the district attorney on the Oregon case, told the publication, “The only agenda (we have) is when we have probable cause to believe somebody violated the law, they should be held accountable.”

Asked if Plunkett’s testimony could be troublesome as a result of the old charge, attorney Marlowe responded that it shouldn’t. “He got acquitted. He didn’t give false testimony,” Marlowe said.

Prosecutor Williams said, “I am aware of that,” when asked if he knew of the case against Plunkett.

“My concern is he is a widely known defense expert in child abuse cases,” said Williams. “He testifies 12 to 15 times a year in 30 plus states and has been doing that for a decade. It’s a lot of cases that he is hired by the defense. I will explore some of those issues with him in front of the jury.”

There is a “possibly perceived bias based on he testifies almost exclusively for defendants,” Williams said.

Leland Valdez died of “blunt force trauma,” according to the state Office of the Medical Investigator.

Governor involved
Within days of the Valdez boy’s death, Gov. Susana Martinez, a former prosecutor who was in her first month in the governor’s office, got personally involved in the case and said Children Youth and Families Department employees had been “protected” because of the flawed policies of the agency. She said she feared children were being put at risk.

CYFD supervisor Gabrielle James was fired over the Valdez case – her lawyer Friday said she is continuing with a court appeal of her dismissal – and another CYFD employee was suspended for 15 days.

While the governor has said in the recent case of Omaree Varela that the responsibility for the boy’s death lies squarely with the mother who allegedly kicked him to death, she has also ordered a full review of the CYFD’s actions in the Albuquerque case.
As in the Leland Valdez case, both CYFD and police had investigated prior reports of possible abuse of Omaree.

“Governor Martinez has dedicated her professional life to protecting children, and specialized in prosecuting child abuse and child homicide cases for 25 years,” spokesman Enrique Knell said Friday. “She is outraged anytime a child dies at the hands of those who are supposed to love them the most.

“In each of these cases, the governor has called for a full review of CYFD’s prior involvement with these families and, in each, she has strongly expressed that the perpetrators of these crimes be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.”

http://www.abqjournal.com/334862/news/nm-news/plea-deal-rejected-in-2011-fatal-child-abuse-case.html

Mom pleads guilty in death of Pojoaque toddler


PUBLISHED: Wednesday, March 5, 2014 at 3:02 pm

Tabetha Van Holtz, shown here at a court hearing in 2011, on Wednesday entered guilty pleas in the death of her 3-year-old son.

SANTA FE – In one of a series of cases that has provoked questions about New Mexico’s child protection system, a Pojoaque mother charged with causing the death of her son in 2011 pleaded guilty to two abuse counts Wednesday afternoon.

Under an agreement with prosecutors, Tabetha Van Holtz, 25, entered guilty pleas to one count of child abandonment resulting in great bodily harm and one count of abuse of a child in the death of her 3-year-old son, Leland Valdez.

Under her plea deal, Van Holtz faces a maximum prison sentence of 9 years and a fine of up to $10,000.

She is scheduled to be sentenced the first week in August.

Van Holtz and her boyfriend, Steven Gallegos, told authorities in January 2011 that Leland had fallen off a kitchen chair and had “seizures and convulsions.” But his fatal injuries were inconsistent with that version of events and his body was covered with old injuries, a hospital doctor told authorities.

The state Office of the Medical Investigator later determined the boy had been beaten to death and died from “homicidal violence.”

Leland Valdez

Only after Leland’s death did details surface about a previous incident during which he allegedly had been abused. August 2010 – just five months before Leland was killed – his father reported that his son had been abused when the boy was in Van Holtz’s custody.

The state Children, Youth and Families Department failed to substantiate the abuse. But after Leland’s death, two CYFD employees were disciplined for their handling of the father’s report. One was fired and the other suspended.

Also, the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office acknowledged it had not filed a timely report on the father’s abuse report, which could have affected Van Holtz’s custody of the boy in the month’s leading up to his death. The report about bruises on Leland wasn’t filed until after he was killed.

And during the same period, his father missed a crucial child custody hearing.

Gallegos, Van Holtz’s boyfriend in 2011 and whose case was separated from hers, rejected a plea agreement in January and is scheduled to go on trial July 28. He’s charged with three counts of negligent child abuse and one count of intentional child abuse resulting in death.

As part of her agreement, Van Holtz is required to testify truthfully against Gallegos if his case goes to trial.

Van Holtz originally was indicted on a more serious charge of child abuse resulting in death. Also as part of her plea deal, a child abuse charged filed after Leland died – but which was based on what happened when his father reported abuse five months earlier – has been dropped.

Her pleas were entered at a hearing in state District Court in Santa Fe before Judge Francis Mathew. Leland Valdez’s father, Andrew Valdez, and stepmother, Angela Valdez, attended.

“It’s a surreal experience,” said Angela Valdez afterward. “Nobody ever expects something bad to happen to a child and to hear Tabetha actually say she is guilty of both charges … for her to actually say she did that to her own child, I don’t have words to express it.”

Leland Valdez died Jan. 26, 2011, at the University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, two days after he was airlifted there from Santa Fe for treatment of severe head and body injuries.

Van Holtz and Gallegos had brought him to Christus St. Vincent Regional Medical Center in Santa Fe and made the assertion he’d fallen from a chair.

Within days of the Valdez boy’s death, Gov. Susana Martinez, a former prosecutor who was in her first month in the Governor’s Office, got personally involved in the case and said errant CYFD employees had been “protected” because of the flawed policies of the agency. She said she feared children were being put at risk.

CYFD supervisor Gabrielle James was fired over the Valdez case – her lawyer said in January that she is continuing with a court appeal of her dismissal – and another CYFD employee was suspended for 15 days.

A wrongful death lawsuit filed by Leland’s father against the sheriff’s office and county government also is pending.

http://www.abqjournal.com/363273/abqnewsseeker/mom-pleads-guilty-in-death-of-pojoaque-toddler.html

What happened to the child she was carrying when this poor little boy, beautiful boy, was murdered

These POSs love to breed.

New Mexico mother pleads guilty in abuse case


| March 6, 2014 | Updated: March 6, 2014 8:00am


SANTA FE, N.M. (AP) — A 25-year-old Santa Fe County woman faces up to nine years in prison after pleading guilty to charges stemming from her 3-year-old son's death in 2011.

Tabetha Van Holtz of Pojoaque pleaded guilty Wednesday to charges of child abuse and abandonment resulting in great bodily harm in Leland Valdez's death.

Van Holtz's then-boyfriend, Steven Gallegos, still faces several felony child abuse charges.

Van Holtz will be required to testify against Gallegos, and she won't be sentenced until his trial is completed.

The boy's father had warned state child protection officials that the boy was being abused in the mother's home.

However, a Children, Youth and Families Department supervisor determined there wasn't enough evidence to remove the boy from Van Holtz's custody.

http://www.chron.com/news/crime/article/New-Mexico-mother-pleads-guilty-in-abuse-case-5293233.php

The boy's father had warned state child protection officials that the boy was being abused in the mother's home.

This happens quite often and there is no excuse for it.

Leland’s killer gets 21 years in plea deal


From left, Angela Valdez, her husband, Andrew Valdez, and Sandra Valdez, Andrew's mother, react to Monday's guilty pleas by Steven Gallegos, accused of beating to death Andrew's 3-year-old son, Leland Valdez, in 2011 when the boy was in his mother's custody. (Greg Sorber/Journal)
By Andy Stiny / Journal Staff Writer

UPDATED: Monday, July 21, 2014 at 9:53 pm
PUBLISHED: Monday, July 21, 2014 at 5:03 pm  

SANTA FE – 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.

Steven Gallegos enters the courtroom Monday before pleading guilty in the 2011 death of 3-year-old Leland Valdez of Pojoaque,

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.

A prosecutor said one reason the state was willing to enter into a plea deal instead going to trial is that a new state pathology report found Leland’s manner of death “was best classified as undetermined,” meaning pathologists couldn’t say whether his death was caused by someone else.

The original report from the Office of the Medical Investigator – by a pathologist who has since moved to another state – had found that the manner of death was homicide. In both the original and the new reports, Leland’s cause of death was determined to be blunt force trauma.

The 21-year sentence is not enough for Leland’s father, Andrew Valdez, who said life behind bars would be appropriate for Gallegos.

Angela Valdez, the boy’s stepmother, agreed. “It was definitely not enough time,” she said. “He (Gallegos) never let Leland live. We never got to see him go to kindergarten, we never got to play with him in the park with our other kids, he never got to live the rest of his life, and I think it’s a very unfair ruling that he gets to see life after 40.”

Leland Valdez
But Andrew Valdez did say after the plea hearing that he was “kind of happy it’s all coming to an end.” Gallegos “took something away from me that I am never going to get back. It’s hard, it’s very hard.”

Deputy District Attorney Tim Williams said the new pathology report would provide a “reasonable doubt” opening for the defense at trial. He referred to the high-profile Florida case of Casey Anthony, who was acquitted in the death of her child.

Formal sentencing for Gallegos will take place July 29 in state District Court. Two other charges of child abuse not resulting in death in Gallegos’s original indictment were dismissed.

Leland Valdez died on Jan. 26, 2011, at University of New Mexico Hospital in Albuquerque, two days after he was airlifted there after treatment in Santa Fe for body and head injuries. Gallegos and the boy’s mother, Tabetha Van Holtz, claimed he had fallen off a kitchen chair and started “having seizures and convulsions.” But Leland’s injuries were inconsistent with that version of events and his body was also covered with evidence of prior injuries, a hospital doctor told authorities.

Van Holtz, 25, who was the girlfriend of Gallegos, pleaded guilty to two child abuse counts in March and has not yet been sentenced.

Leland’s death provoked controversy beyond its tragic details. About five months before the boy was killed, both the Children, Youth and Families Department and the Santa Fe County Sheriff’s Office had investigated a report by Leland’s father that the boy had been abused while in Van Holtz’s custody. But no action resulted from the dad’s report.

When Leland died, Gov. Susana Martinez was in her first month in office and got personally involved in the case. One CYFD supervisor was fired and a second employee received a 15-day suspension. The sheriff’s office, now facing a civil suit filed by the father, also admitted mishandling the case.


http://www.abqjournal.com/433043/abqnewsseeker/santa-fe-man-gets-21-years-in-child-abuse-death-of-3-year-old.html

Woman sentenced for 3-year-old son’s death

By Kayla Ayres 
Published: November 13, 2014, 4:28 pm
Updated: November 13, 2014, 9:01 pm

SANTA FE (KRQE) – A Pojoaque woman who pleaded guilty earlier this year in the death of her 3-year-old son could spend less than two years behind bars.Tabetha Van Holtz was sentenced to nine years for the death of Leland Valdez. Two of those years will be served as probation, and with time already served and good behavior, Van Holtz could spend a little more than a year and a half in prison.

Van Holtz and her then-boyfriend, Steven Gallegos, were charged in little Leland’s 2011 death. Van Holtz and Gallegos said the boy fell off a chair before becoming unresponsive. He was rushed to UNM Hospital, where Leland died two days later. An autopsy showed Leland had been beaten, and that there were older injuries all over his body.

Gallegos pleaded no contest in July 2014; he was sentenced to 21 years in prison.
Van Holtz took the stand during the sentencing hearing, apologizing for the pain his death caused.

“I take responsibility for not looking after my son, for not being there when he needed me the most. I should have known better, I should’ve been there for him,” Van Holtz said.

In court Van Holtz’s attorney argued Gallegos was the one who beat Leland, and that Van Holtz’s crime was standing by and not stopping it.

Andrew Valdez said he would have liked to see Van Holtz spend more time behind bars, but that he’s happy this is coming to an end nearly four years after his son’s death.

“I’m glad she’s going to be doing time. I’m glad she’s going to be sitting in a cell. I hope she sits and thinks of what she did to my son, to my family,” Valdez said.



http://krqe.com/2014/11/13/woman-sentenced-for-3-year-old-sons-death/

Another sad miscarriage of justice.  She whines for the judge and gets a slap on her wrist. 

Another POS mother.  Another POS man.  Another dead baby.