GABRIEL DOMINGUEZ - 2 yo (2011)/ Convicted: Mother's BF; Daniel Vega - Lomita (W of Long Beach) CA

Authorities arrested a 25-year-old man in connection with the death of a 2-year-old Lomita boy.
         The boy died Thursday in Lomita, and sheriff's homicide detectives were investigating the circumstances.
Deputies arrested Daniel Vega late Thursday in West Covina.
         Vega was identified as the boyfriend of the child's mother.
  The child was found dead inside an apartment around 12:40 p.m. in the
26000 block of South Western Avenue, two blocks south of Pacific Coast Highway,
said Deputy Luis Castro of the Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau.
         The boy was pronounced dead at the scene.  A neighbor told NBCLA news
the mother returned home to find the lifeless child.  
         Detectives arrested Daniel Vega, 25, in West Covina at about 11:20 p.m.,  
Capt. Mike Parker of Sheriff's Headquarters Bureau said. Vega was wanted
for parole violation and is being held without bail,  Parker said.

http://www.nbclosangeles.com/news/local/Homicide-Detectives-Investigate-Lomita-Toddler-Death-117385413.html

Homicide investigators are looking into the death of toddler who died
while he was in the care of his mother's boyfriend Thursday, police said.
Police arrested 25-year-old Daniel Vega around 11:20 p.m. Thursday in
West Covina. He was wanted for a parole violation and is being held without bail.
L.A. County Sheriff's deputies responded to a call around noon Thursday
of a child not breathing at a home in the Harbor Hills housing
development on Western Avenue in Lomita.
When deputies arrived they found the 2-year-old unresponsive. The child was declared dead at the scene.
Investigators said the boy had signs of physical trauma, including bruises on his body.
Neighbors say that the mother had left the home to run some errands and left the toddler with her Vega, her boyfriend.
An investigation is still ongoing.

http://www.ktla.com/news/landing/ktla-lomita-toddler-killed,0,2076847.story

2-year-old Toddler's Death Ruled a Homicide

12/7/2011
Thursday, March 03, 2011

Sheriff's Homicide detectives are continuing their investigation into the death of a 2-year-old child. Detectives learned that Suspect Daniel Vega is the boyfriend of the victim's mother. He was living in the home at the time of the murder. Detectives are also looking into an allegation of previous abuse to the toddler by the suspect.

Two other children, a 4-year-old and a 6-year-old, living in the residence were taken into protective custody by the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services.

Sheriff's Homicide investigators have determined that the death of the 2-year old child in Lomita was a homicide. They are continuing their investigation and have made an arrest in connection with the homicide.

At 11:20 P.M., Thursday, detectives arrested Daniel Vega, a 25-year old Hispanic male, in West Covina. Vega was wanted for a Parole Violation (Parolee At Large) and is being held without bail.

http://shq.lasdnews.net/content/uoa/LMT/LMT-NR-2-year-oldToddlers.aspx

Man who beat to death toddler in Lomita apartment gets 56 years

By Rob Kuznia Staff Writer
Posted: 03/27/12, 9:00 PM PDT |

A 26-year-old man who fatally beat his girlfriend's toddler in a Lomita apartment was sentenced to 56 years to life in prison Wednesday by a judge who labeled his crimes "vicious" and "sadistic."

Daniel Vega stared down at the table while being admonished by Los Angeles County Superior Court Judge Steven Van Sicklen in a Torrance courtroom.

"Your conduct was as vicious, sadistic, as depraved, as cruel and as inhuman as anything I have ever seen in my life, which includes 14 years on the bench, hearing the most serious cases to come in this county," Van Sicklen said.

On March 3, 2011, Vega's girlfriend, Marisa Mendoza, left her apartment to run errands, leaving Vega with her 2-year-old son, Gabriel Dominguez. Her two daughters, then ages 5 and 6, were at school.

When Mendoza returned to the apartment at the Harbor Hills housing project in the 26600 block of South Western Avenue, Vega was gone and Gabriel was tucked into bed, as if sleeping, said Deputy District Attorney Lowrie Mendoza. (No relation to the mother.)

The boy's mother pulled back the covers to discover that the boy was dead. He had suffered more than 100 kicking and beating bruises to the mid-section.

Speaking through tears, Mendoza, 26, read a lengthy statement in the courtroom Wednesday.

"I had so many plans for him, so many dreams," said Mendoza, who, like other family members, wore a T-shirt emblazoned with a large photo of a smiling Gabriel in a booth at a McDonald's restaurant. "I can still hear his little voice in my head asking questions."

She went on to describe how Gabriel enjoyed playing with his boxing gloves - just like his father - and riding his scooter, "even though he was a little bit too short for it.

"He was the answer to my prayers - I always wanted a boy," she said, struggling to get the words out.

As he listened, the slight defendant kept his gaze downcast, revealing a few small tattoos on the back of his neck, one of them in the motif of a pink lipstick kiss.

"(Gabriel) was taken from us by the hand of a 26-year-old man who we opened our home to, helped, and treated like he was a part of our family when he had no place to go," she said. "And, in return, he ruined our lives forever."

Mendoza, who has moved back to Covina and is currently attending school to become a surgical technician, said the event has cost her the custody of her two daughters.

"I'm only allowed one hour a week with my little girls," she said. "This past year has been a nightmare for myself and my daughters."

She added that the tragedy has sabotaged her relationship with the family of the boy's father.

"Our relationship had never been perfect prior, but it's now nonexistent," she said.

A member of that family also spoke Wednesday, and her words for Vega were particularly venomous.

Jessica Dominguez, Gabriel's paternal aunt, began her statement by repeatedly demanding that Vega look at her. He did not.

"I will never forgive you - forgiveness does not exist in my heart," she said. "Enjoy your bus ride to hell, because prison is hell. ...Enjoy your new view of your vacation home in prison, because you will rot in there."

Both natives of Covina, Mendoza and Vega had dated in high school. They split up but reunited later in life.

The day of the crime, Mendoza - while out running errands with her friends - had called and texted him several times to check in. Vega didn't answer or respond, though she testified in court that that wasn't out of the ordinary.

Mendoza and a neighbor both testified that Vega mistreated Gabriel, often referring to him as a "mama's boy" and a "crybaby."

The trial began in late January and ended six days later. The jury reached a verdict on Jan. 30 after deliberating for just 30 minutes.

Vega has a criminal history. His rap sheet includes prior arrests and convictions for domestic violence, stalking, making terrorist threats and violating restraining orders. He had also been accused of abusing the boy.

Before coming to live with Mendoza in Lomita, Vega had served about two years in prison, said prosecutor Lowrie Mendoza. (All told, he had been sentenced to four years, but was released early.)

Records show other arrests or convictions for driving under the influence, marijuana possession and driving with a suspended or revoked license.

Despite his extensive criminal history, Vega had just one prior strike on his record - for making criminal threats - before the latest conviction, Lowrie Mendoza said. She said none of his other offenses was considered a strike.

http://www.dailybreeze.com/general-news/20120328/man-who-beat-to-death-toddler-in-lomita-apartment-gets-56-years

L.A. County supervisors OK $450,000 payment for father of slain boy

May 5, 2015, 8:05 PM
By GARRETT THEROLF

The Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors on Tuesday approved a $450,000 payout to the father of a 2-­year-­old boy who was killed by his mother's boyfriend in 2011 despite repeated calls to county social workers about ongoing abuse.

The payment settles a wrongful-death complaint filed by Robert Dominguez, the father of Gabriel Dominguez. The complaint alleged that the Department of Children and Family Services social worker assigned to investigate Gabriel's case falsified his report to say that the boy was healthy and safe at a time that bruises covered his face.

The case was closed Feb. 28, 2011. On March 3, 2011, the boyfriend, Daniel Vega, pummeled the boy with more than 50 blows in their Lomita home, lacerating his intestines and liver.

Vega had been the subject of repeated calls to the county's child abuse hotline and was sentenced to 56 years in prison for the killing.

The agency caseworker who investigated, Daniel Medina, “lied and fabricated evidence when he reported that he saw Gabriel on 2/18/11 and that Gabriel had no marks or bruises,” according to the father’s civil complaint.

Andrew Ritholz, the attorney for the boy’s father, says that Gabriel had visible bruising over much of his face at the time but Medina did not see him that day.

Ritholz had access to the county's original case notes that were filed as exhibits under seal in the civil case.

Medina, who remains a social worker with the department, did not respond to a request for comment. Agency Director Philip Browning rejected the claim that Medina lied in his reports.

“We have zero tolerance for falsification of documents,” Browning said. “In this matter, no falsification was found.”

According to the suit, Medina’s investigation began in late January 2011, when someone called the child abuse hotline to say that Gabriel and his two siblings were in danger because Vega lived with them and was violent and out of control. He had punched a neighbor in the presence of the children, the anonymous caller said.

The caller also asserted that Vega, who had a violent criminal record, was engaged in domestic violence against the mother, had gang affiliations and that there was drug use in the home, the suit alleged.

The suit also alleged that Medina went to the home on the day of the anonymous call, but over his ensuing visits, he believed Gabriel’s mother when she lied by saying that Vega no longer lived in the home — even though his clothes were still there and the children said they saw him often.

By the time Medina closed the case, other hotline calls had also been received about the family, according to the suit. Medina’s final report falsely stated that Vega was not in the home and that the mother did not have a drug problem, even though he received a positive test for marijuana for her days earlier, the suit said.

When the boy died days later, the coroner determined that some of his serious injuries had occurred weeks before, the suit said.

In a letter from the agency to the Board of Supervisors recommending the settlement, officials said they had spent $230,000 on legal fees fighting the case.

A wrongful-death complaint is still pending against the Los Angeles Unified School District because the father says a school nurse also failed to appropriately assess evidence of abuse before Gabriel's death.

At Medina’s request, Gabriel’s mother had taken him to Eshelman Elementary School, where the school nurse examined the boy. The nurse did not report any evidence of child abuse or neglect to the agency, according to court documents.

A spokesman for L.A. Unified declined to comment.

http://www.latimes.com/local/lanow/la-me-ln-la-child-death-20150505-story.html