commentary by Patrick H. Moore
During the 14 months All Things Crime Blog has been in existence, one of the burning questions we’ve considered in many of our posts is the question of rehabilitation; i.e., should individuals who are convicted of serious crimes be rehabilitated as opposed to merely being punished with lengthy (and often Draconian) prison sentences. Although I don’t want to put words in anyone’s mouth, it is my belief that most, if not all of our regular contributors, myself included, believe strongly in a rehabilitative model as opposed to one focused solely on punishment and retribution.
Now comes a case that could theoretically test our belief that with proper guidance people can and often will change for the better.
Back in 2005, Luz Arroyo was 25 years old. She lived in the Cromwell Towers apartments in Yonkers with her two children and her boyfriend, David Maldonado, the father of her 20 month old son David Jr. At that time, Luz and David Sr., who were heroin and crack cocaine users, were well-known to DSS (Department of Social Services) based on allegations of domestic violence, and a neglect investigation had been initiated.
In July of 2005, Luz Arroyo was passed out at their apartment sleeping off a drug binge, which left only David Sr. to care for David Jr. and Luz’s other son, Elijah Santana, who was mere weeks shy of his third birthday.
David, who was apparently also far from clean and sober that day, somehow managed to leave the two little boys in the bathroom with the hot water running before passing out like a pole-axed steer (either that or one of the boys turned the hot water on and couldn’t turn it off). The bathroom had a broken door that jammed easily which was to prove instrumental in the tragedy that followed.
Jonathan Bandler and Richard Liebson The Journal News write:
For more than two hours, the young half-brothers squirmed on their tiptoes, trying to escape the scalding water that poured from the bathtub onto the floor.
They probably pushed on the jammed, broken door and cried and screamed, too, but their parents were in the living room of their Cromwell Towers apartment, sleeping off a heroin and crack-induced stupor.
The boys died there, in the steamy, water-filled bathroom, suffering second-degree burns on their backs, legs and feet as their body temperatures reached 108 degrees. It was a scene so horrific that the six Yonkers police officers who responded were debriefed by stress counselors and temporarily removed from duty.
Bandler and Liebson note that the deaths of Arroyo’s sons led to widespread criticism of DSS for its handling of her case. After having launched an investigation, the caseworker assigned to the family visited the apartment on June 1, 2005, but made no follow-up visits which led to her being fired after the boys died. Her boss was also terminated by the county for failing to properly supervise the case.
Bandler and Liebson add that two years earlier, DSS also failed to adequately investigate an eerily prescient claim that David Maldonado would discipline Elijah by locking him in a hot room. Elijah would have been approximately one year old at that time.
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Now, almost nine years later, a Westchester Family Court judge must decide whether the mother of the deceased children, Luz Arroyo, is now a fit parent who should be allowed to raise her brand-new infant daughter, Spiritual. The baby, born in late February, was taken from Arroyo at the hospital by Child Protective Services and is currently in foster care.
“The bottom line is that Ms. Arroyo does not present a risk of potential child abuse, neglect or maltreatment with regard to her newborn daughter. She is a completely different person than the person she was nearly a decade ago,” said her lawyer, David Sachs, in a statement to The Journal News/lohud.com.
The problem is that the Westchester County Department of Social Services has made allegations that Arroyo neglected prenatal care for her new baby and apparently does not believe that Luz and Spiritual’s father, Miguel Maldonado, will provide a stable home for the little girl.
Yonkers police Detective James Conca was a lead investigator in the boys’ deaths. He believes that second chances shouldn’t necessarily be given when the welfare of a child is at stake.
“Given a choice between her child and doing something for her own benefit, (Arroyo would) neglect the child,” Conca said. “No doubt in my mind. She’d put herself first.”
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Following the death of her sons, Luz Arroyo, now 34, spent nearly two years in state prison after pleading guilty to criminally negligent homicide. Based on the fact he was supposed to be “on duty” when the children died, David Maldonado took the brunt of the punishment and received a 5-to-15 year sentence. He has been denied parole three times, in part because he has never definitively admitted turning on the hot water that led to the children’s death. Soon, however, he will have served two-thirds of his sentence which means he will soon be released from custody.
Luz Arroyo also has two teenage children. A daughter is being raised by Luz’s mother and a boy is being raised by his paternal grandmother. She also had yet another child in 2009, a girl, who lives with an unidentified relative.
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In trying to determine whether Arroyo should receive custody of her newborn, it is important to note that her life has hardly been “smooth sailing” since she was released from prison after serving her original two-year sentence.
In March 2009, while pregnant, Arroyo was arrested in an undercover sting by New Rochelle police for making arrangements to provide sex for cash. There were ten bags of cocaine involved which were found under her mattress and she was charged with felony drug possession and misdemeanor promoting prostitution charges. She received a reasonably sweet plea deal, considering she had a serious prior conviction, that reduced the drug charge to a misdemeanor, and served six months Westchester County jail.
Then in 2010, Arroyo was accused of making threatening phone calls to a Greenburgh woman. She pleaded guilty to an aggravated harassment charge and was placed on three years’ probation. To her credit, she has tested clean on all her drug tests during her probationary period, which terminated in March.
Should Luz Arroyo Be Reunited with her Newborn?
In an attempt to sum up the progress she has made, Ms. Arroyo’s lawyer David Sachs stated that “at first blush” the deaths of her sons “should initially raise some eyebrows” but that Arroyo’s life “has taken a 180 degree turn for the best …”
Sachs is requesting that Family Court Judge Michelle Schauer dismiss the abuse and neglect petitions filed by the DSS and return Spiritual to her mother, saying the allegations “are untimely, wholly lacking in merit and have no basis under the law.”
Sachs also pointed out that DSS has not yet sought to terminate her parental rights, and that the agency’s stated goal at this point is eventually to reunite mother and daughter. Recently, Arroyo’s biweekly visits with Spiritual were increased to weekly sessions. She has also volunteered to undergo drug testing.
According to Sachs, Ms. Arroyo’s drug use is behind her, her housing situation is stable and she has undergone successful psychological treatment and counseling, under the auspices of the county Department of Community Mental Health.
“Having fully paid her debt to society, Ms. Arroyo’s complete reformation of every aspect of her life over the last several years is undeniable and should be viewed by our community as a success …” said Sachs.
According to Sachs, Ms. Arroyo and Spiritual’s father, Miguel Maldonado, are living in subsidized housing provided by the county mental health agency and are current on their rent.
Ms. Arroyo’s obstetrician, Dr. Shahram Razmzan, provided her medical records during pregnancy to the social workers. The doctor stated that although Ms. Arroyo may have missed or rescheduled a few appointments, for the most part she took care of herself during her pregnancy.
“Her prenatal care was not deficient,” Razmzan said. “To me, no, it wasn’t to a level to cause concern to take away her baby.”
Retired Yonkers detective Conca, however, is not about to let Ms. Arroyo’s past be swept under the rug based on the progress she’s made in recent years. He describes Elijah and David Jr.’s deaths as among the worst cases he’s seen during his years of investigating child abuse.
“In terms of how much the babies suffered, they had to die a horrible death,” he said.
Conca, however, admits that Arroyo and Maldonado did not abuse their children, but they did let drugs take over their lives. He said Arroyo “was a weak person who depended on everyone else for help raising those kids. Would I trust her with another baby? No. Everything was always about her.”
Tamar Kraft-Stolar, director of the Correctional Association of New York’s Women in Prison Project, appears to disagree with retired Detective Conca. Although she stated that she could not discuss the case specifically, she said “putting people in a state of perpetual punishment serves no one.”
Ms. Karft-Stolar further stated that “one of our fundamental beliefs is that people have the capacity to change. We have seen over and over again how people who have committed the most egregious crimes can turn their lives around. With the proper support and resources they can become loving, strong parents and contributing members of society.”
* * * * *
This is a tough call. Although I know little about the philosophy of DSS or Child Protective Services in New York, or anywhere else, I have always heard that Family Court judges typically, although perhaps not invariably, make every effort to reunite families whenever possible.
Is such a solution possible in this matter? First, I must admit that I’m somewhat appalled by the way Ms. Arroyo keeps popping out the babies. It makes me think that she may have little overall purpose other than procreating and raising children.
On the other hand, I find two key points that work in her favor. First, there is no evidence that she has ever been an abusive mother. Negligent, yes, in the past, but not abusive. To me this is very important. Second, Ms. Arroyo is now completely drug free and has been for some time. Looking back, her child neglect would appear to have been triggered by her addiction to hard drugs. Thus, if she is allowed to regain custody of Spiritual, it should be with the understanding that she will be drug-tested regularly for the foreseeable future.
Will the Family court judge rule in Luz Arroyo’s favor? I don’t know but given to desire to reunite families, I would not be at all surprised if Luz and Spiritual are eventually back together again.