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Just enough rope to hang themselves, and all the people they can sucker into believing that "protection" is what they're all about. And here we go, again. Crack-addicted Mesa girl, 13, was recently in CPS custody Patricia Biggs The Arizona Republic Aug. 28, 2003 12:00 AM A Mesa woman arrested on suspicion of turning her 13-year-old daughter onto cocaine and prostitution had recently won back custody of the girl from Child Protective Services after the beleaguered agency briefly placed the girl in a shelter but failed to discover her addiction or her criminal activity. JoAndrea Peeler, 36, was booked into a Maricopa County jail Wednesday on suspicion of 13 counts of using a minor in a drug offense and 13 counts of facilitation of sexual conduct with a minor. In the past five years, 29 children who had prior cases with CPS died of abuse or neglect. CPS' involvement in the girl's case comes as controversy mounts over the way the agency handled reports about two twin boys held in cages by their parents in Phoenix. And it comes only about a week after 2 �-year-old Charles Young died in Mesa, his body covered in bruises. His family had a history with CPS and was under investigation at the time of the toddler's death. In June, police found Isaac Loubriel, 7, half-starved and locked in a closet in his parent's Phoenix apartment. He, too, was known to CPS. CPS officials could not comment about the Peeler case because of state confidentiality laws. Mesa police arrested Peeler almost by luck Tuesday evening during an unrelated drug bust. While officers were arresting a drug dealer, his phone rang. "An officer answered it," Mesa police Detective Tim Gaffney said. "She was offering to purchase drugs in exchange for sex with her daughter." Officers agreed to meet the caller at the Sunland motel in the 2600 block of East Main Street, where they found Peeler and her daughter, Gaffney said. "It's a very disturbing case." According to detectives, Peeler introduced her daughter to crack in January. In May, running short on money, she came up with the plan to prostitute the girl, at times using their apartment in the 2600 block of East McKellips Road, police said. Neighbor Kayla Hutton said in the three months Peeler lived upstairs, she had "lots of male visitors." "A lot of weird people, coming in and out," Hutton, 24, said. "They're really loud; up all night." Detectives said Peeler admitted trading her daughter for sex 13 times. The girl told investigators it happened at least 36 times, Gaffney said. Both Peeler and the daughter provided names of some of the men to investigators, police said. Peeler has an arrest history. Mesa police records show Peeler and her boyfriend were arrested May 18 after officers found crack pipes and marijuana in their apartment. At the time, the daughter was asleep in a bedroom, Gaffney said. Peeler went into a diversion program for that charge, said Bill FitzGerald, a spokesman for the Maricopa County Attorney's Office. On July 22, officers went to Peeler's apartment at the request of CPS officials who were trying to find the daughter. Peeler was in jail after a July 15 arrest on fraud allegations, and the daughter was supposed to be with her father in Washington but wasn't. Officers found the girl alone in the apartment, and a CPS caseworker took custody of her until Peeler was released from jail or a relative could be located. It was unclear Wednesday when the daughter was reunited with her mother, or whether the case was still under investigation by CPS. According to the police report, CPS officials had been looking for the girl because Peeler "had supposedly given her drugs and they were investigating these allegations." Peeler, who is being held on a $1 million cash bond, has a preliminary hearing Sept. 5. ** Also, CPS knew about the cages. They KNEW, and they did NOTHING. 2001 CPS report referred to more than twins' cages Karina Bland The Arizona Republic Aug. 28, 2003 12:00 AM Contrary to accounts given earlier this week, a report made two years ago to Child Protective Services mentioned more than neglect regarding twin boys found Saturday in filthy makeshift cages. That 2001 report included allegations that the children, then 3, were put in cages as punishment. The case was given a low priority and referred to a state child-abuse prevention program. It was never investigated by a CPS caseworker. A social worker from the Family Builders program went to the house in September 2001, but the boys' mother said their father did not allow the social worker inside. The father, however, told police that the social worker came in to look around. If she did go into the house, then she likely saw nothing amiss. The father told police the cribs looked ordinary enough back then. The sides were extra high, but they didn't have covers or locks, as they did on Saturday, because the boys were so much smaller. Wired into cages When Phoenix police went to the home in the 1900 block of North 22nd Street on Saturday, they found the twins wired into two big roach-infested cages constructed from cribs and plastic crates. Their parents, Luis and Etelvina Rodriguez, were charged Wednesday with two counts each of child abuse and are in jail. The children are in the care of CPS. CPS officials acknowledged Wednesday that the 2001 report included information about the cages. Director David Berns said such an allegation should have received a thorough investigation, according to his spokeswoman, Liz Barker. She said Berns has pledged to take steps to make sure it does not happen again. She did not elaborate. A report released Tuesday by Phoenix police painted a disturbing picture of what life was like for the young twins. They shared a room with an 8-year-old brother who went to school and slept in a regular bed. There was a small television that they could see through the slats of the closed-in cribs. They wore diapers because they hadn't been taught to use a toilet. They drank milk from baby bottles. The boys' mother told police she kept the boys in cages while she was at work because their father, 69, was not able to keep up with them. Luis told police he let the boys out at 9 a.m., fed them and then allowed them to play in the yard. Big enough to stand in He told police he modified the cages each year as the boys grew. It was only this year that he made them big enough to stand in. Luis said he locked the boys in the cages and left them alone when he picked his wife up from work in the afternoon. He said it was to keep them safe. Police discovered the children after the boys' older half brother, Bayron Grihalua, 20, told an officer at a local grocery store about their treatment. Luis' grandson, Matias Leon, 18, has lived with the family for a year. He said he was too afraid of his grandfather to challenge him for locking up the boys. He did once, he told police, and Luis locked him out of the house. He said the boys were not in cages on weekends because his grandmother was not at work. Etelvina told police that she argued with Luis about putting the children in the cages. "I told him it was wrong," she sobbed, her hands on her head. "I told him. I told him." The twins' case is one of the latest of several in which authorities had prior knowledge about reported abuse. Last weekend, 2-year-old Charles Young died in Mesa, his body covered in bruises. In June, police found Isaac Loubriel, 7, in a closet in his parents' apartment. Both boys had had prior cases with CPS. 'Book of failures' "This is but one more name in a book of failures," Maricopa County Attorney Rick Romley said Wednesday. CPS has been under scrutiny since January when Gov. Janet Napolitano told caseworkers that their first priority should be children's safety, not keeping families together. She appointed a commission to study ways to reform CPS. One of its recommendations could have helped the twins. As part of Family Builders, social workers from private agencies respond to neglect reports so CPS workers can deal with more severe cases. The 2001 referral to CPS "noted that, on more than one occasion, the boys were disciplined by their father by putting them in cages," according to police records. But the Rodriguezes refused all services, except a food box. And, by law, parents do not have to let CPS caseworkers, or Family Builder social workers, into their homes or answer any questions. Under the commission recommendation, families who refuse services from Family Builders would face an investigation by a CPS caseworker.
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