Caregiver Is Charged in Girl’s Death

A caregiver charged with killing a 10-year-old girl with cerebral palsy at a home for the disabled in Pedley is under investigation in the alleged abuse of another child at the facility, prosecutors said Wednesday.

Kimiko Hebert, 30, could face additional charges, said Riverside County Assistant Dist. Atty. Michael Hestrin.

“It’s likely that she abused other children in her care,” Hestrin said. “We’re going to investigate it fully.”

Police have confirmed that Hebert was alone with the disabled girl at the Baker House on Studebaker Way on May 5, when the girl suffered numerous blows to her head and chest, and a lacerated liver, officials said.

“The girl had severe cerebral palsy, numerous health problems and was severely retarded, but they were not [health conditions] that would’ve” caused her death, Hestrin said.

The home is one of nine family-owned facilities throughout Riverside County known as Special Care Children’s Homes. The homes are licensed and funded by the state, said co-owner and operator Jim Danielsen.

“We’ve been doing this for 38 years, and we absolutely never expected anything like this,” he said. “We feel really bad for the little girl and my staff. These girls love these children. When we told them what happened, they were in utter disbelief or they just broke down crying.”

Hebert has worked for the company for four years, and there was no indication that she was abusive, he said. She had passed a criminal background check and had completed 50 hours of training and 100 hours of on-site supervision. She had four young children of her own, he said.

Danielsen employs about 92 people, including registered nurses and caregivers such as Hebert. There is one registered nurse for every three houses, and each facility has a capacity of six children, he said.

On May 5, Hebert was the only adult in the Baker House.

Danielsen said he received a call in the middle of the night that the police had been summoned to the home. The girl’s lips were white and she was not breathing, he said. She was pronounced dead at Riverside Community Hospital, but the cause of death was unknown.

A coroner’s investigation found that the child had suffered a lacerated liver.

Authorities would not comment on how or why the child was killed.

Officials with the California Department of Health Services said they were treating the girl’s death as an isolated incident.

At its last inspection of the homes in December, the health department noted five deficiencies. Three involved patient care; the other two involved food service, she said.

“We consider all deficiencies serious, but again, overall, the facility has a good compliance record,” said Lea Brooks, spokeswoman for the state health department.

The agency has not had any other reports of abuse at the homes, she said.

“We’re investigating to see what broke down in the system that allowed this to happen,” Brooks said. “If we go out to the site and we believe that the children are in jeopardy, we do have the authority to shut them down. We didn’t feel that the other children are in any danger.”

Danielsen said he was not aware of any other children who might have been hurt, but did alert authorities about a child with a red mark on his forehead. The child is “fine,” he said. Many of the children have seizures, thrash about and occasionally hurt themselves, he said.

Hestrin would not say whether the operators of the home would be charged.

Danielsen said he had received support from parents and the community.

“There’s been a lot of tears,” he said. “I was sitting outside in the middle of the night and I thought, ‘God will make a way and get us through this.’ ”