CYFD Pays $5.5 Million After Agency Placed Girl With Abusive Father Who Killed Her

In April 2020, eight-year-old Samantha Rubino and her nine-year-old brother suddenly lost their mother, their only caregiver, who was found dead. The New Mexico Children, Youth and Families Department took custody of both children and began looking for a placement. The father, Juan Lerma, had not been part of the children's lives for years, yet CYFD sent them to live with him.

The agency had reason for caution. State records showed abuse investigations involving Lerma going back to 2012, 2013, and 2016. In the 2016 case, the agency documented allegations of physical abuse before closing the matter as unsubstantiated. When caseworkers placed the children with Lerma in April 2020, they conducted no adequate safety assessment and performed no required home visits after placement. The investigation was closed on May 18, 2020, less than two months before Samantha died.

Samantha was killed in August 2020. Her brother, who witnessed the attack, told police Lerma beat her to death. Her body was found wrapped in plastic bags inside a trash can outside Lerma's Carlsbad home. An autopsy confirmed blunt force trauma to the head. Lerma was convicted in November 2022 of intentional child abuse resulting in death and tampering with evidence, and was sentenced to life in prison. The New Mexico Supreme Court upheld the conviction in May 2024.

Ben Davis and Davis Kelin Law Firm LLC, co-counseling with Martinez, Hart, Sanchez and Romero, filed a federal civil rights action on behalf of Samantha's estate and her surviving sibling. The complaint alleged that CYFD violated the children's constitutional rights by placing them in a home it knew, or should have known, was dangerous, then abandoning any follow-up that might have saved her life.

The state of New Mexico agreed to a $5.5 million settlement, entered in January 2024. The settlement included no admission of liability. The majority of the funds were directed into a trust for the benefit of Samantha's surviving brother, with a portion allocated to her half-siblings. Ben Davis said after the resolution that CYFD 'must protect our children' and that the agency had given the children to Lerma 'then there was no follow-up.'