Social workers dismissed 2 years of abuse claims for slain Corona boy
In the two years before Noah McIntosh of Corona went missing and presumably died, Riverside County social workers investigated reports that the young boy had his hands zip-tied behind his back and was dunked in cold water and that he showed up to school without pants.
Investigators found those reports unsubstantiated or inconclusive and kept him with his father, Bryce McIntosh, who has since been charged with the 8-year-old boy’s torture-murder and with child cruelty.
Riverside County Department of Public Social Services workers checked on the boy at least three times before his March 2019 disappearance.
There was also at least one contact with a police officer during that time and, according to the documents, earlier investigations in Orange County.
Evidence gathered in the case showed McIntosh bought acid and other caustic chemicals as well as a large plastic trash barrel around the time Noah went missing.
McIntosh, 33, of Corona has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
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DPSS released a statement Wednesday, Aug. 7, saying they are dedicated to protecting their most vulnerable and have made changes including appointing a new director.
The changes created “a shift in culture toward greater accountability and safer practices,” the statement says.
“We know we must constantly work to protect our children and dependent adults,” the DPSS statement continues.
Redacted documents detailing the visits were obtained Wednesday after Southern California News Group and other media sued to obtain the records under the state law that requires the automatic public disclosure of social services records of a juvenile who is believed to have died as a result of abuse or neglect.
The earliest recorded visit in Riverside County was in August 2017, when Noah was reported to have had to sit in a bathtub all day and was forced to eat a laxative and sit in soiled pants.
The investigation also included a statement alleged to have been made by the father, that he would flush his child’s head down the toilet.
While the last complaint in February 2018 was about Noah and his sister’s sleeping arrangements, the next visit came from authorities in March 2019, after his mother reported him missing.
Noah’s mother, Jillian Godfrey, pleaded not guilty in April to a charge of child cruelty. The 37-year-old Corona woman is not charged in Noah’s slaying. Her next court appearance is scheduled for Friday, Aug. 9.
First encounter
The documents obtained Wednesday include a police interview with Noah on Aug. 24, 2017, at a school six days after the CPS report about claims of forced bathtub sitting and laxative abuse.
When the unidentified officer asks Noah about zip ties, he said his father “puts them on me” and then dunks him underwater because he doesn’t “pee on the potty,” adding that the zip ties are made behind his back, and that he also tied his feet.
He also told the officer that his father put him in cold water in the bathtub, then put his head in the water. “He said it makes him feel ‘kinda nervous’” because he was blindfolded by his father, according to the report.
Noah told the officer those things happened because he “‘doesn’t go on the potty.’ At this point I noticed (Noah’s) began to get watery,” the report said, not using the word “eyes.”
The officer also interviewed mother Jillian Godfrey, who says she believes it is her father who made the claims of physical abuse, because he didn’t like Bryce McIntosh.
She said the children had been living with her father in Anaheim, but that she and Bryce decided to have them go to Corona for school, which upset the grandfather.
“I know what you are getting at” the police report quotes Godfrey as saying. She said Bryce McIntosh “did not abuse (Noah).” She said she “is always there and has not seen” the father abuse the son.
Bryce McIntosh refused to let police or Child Protective Services check his home on Aug. 24, the day of the interview, but said he would allow an officer into his home the following day. However there was no answer that following day to the officer’s knocking on the door, even though the officer noted, it sounded like someone was in the apartment.
The report said the officer saw no visible injuries on Noah and that detectives would follow up. The case was not closed, according to the documents.
Details about Noah’s hands being bound and him being put in a bathtub in cold water match allegations in the arrest declaration filed by investigators.
In March, Jillian Godrey’s father, Doug Godfrey said in an interview that he called Riverside County Child Protective Services a year or so ago, fearing that Noah was being abused, but caseworkers determined there was no cause to take the boy away.
Second encounter
On Nov. 9, 2017, Noah allegedly came to school wearing a Pull-Up diaper, shirt and shoes, but no pants.
The father said Noah had been peeing his pants.
“If he wants to be a baby, I’m sending him to school in a diaper,” Bryce McIntosh said, according to the report.
After he was told Noah couldn’t come to school without pants, McIntosh gave his son what appeared to be his sister’s clothes: pink girl’s shorts and a zip-up hoodie with butterflies on it.
The teacher told investigators that Noah was teased all day, so the principal went to Target to buy a change of clothes.
Noah “usually smells of urine but the school has been trying to work with father,” the report added.
The report said BryceMcIntosh had been told before to bring a change of clothes for Noah, but he sometimes does not. He allegedly said his son was just being lazy.
Investigators said the mother didn’t seem protective at all and said the family needed counseling, parenting classes or support.
The parents agreed to counseling for Noah on the condition that they be allowed in the room, according to the report. It is not clear whether counseling took place.
“(What’s most worrying is) the manner in which the father is disciplining the child,” the investigator wrote, “as it is punitive and humiliating opening the child up to ridicule.”
In the summary of previous allegations in Noah’s case history, the incident is referred to as an allegation of “general neglect” that is “inconclusive.”
Social workers did find two allegations of general neglect to be substantiated in August 2017, but Noah remained with his father. They were not able to substantiate evidence of physical abuse or severe neglect. They found an allegation of general neglect to be true in March of this year — at the time Noah had disappeared.
Department history
Susan von Zabern, who had been the director of Child Protective Services in Riverside County since 2007, left in September.
The county Board of Supervisors was discussing two lawsuits at the time that alleged botched investigations that led to horrific outcomes for endangered children. The McIntosh case was not one of them.
The lawsuits claim county social workers mishandled cases involving a 3-year-old found hugging her infant sibling’s mummified corpse and a 13-year-old raped repeatedly and eventually impregnated by her mother’s live-in boyfriend.
The county also conducted an internal assessment of Social Services’ procedures for investigating child neglect in 2015, after a man was sentenced to 20 years in prison on charges related to child porn. Social service workers had found the evidence, which included photos of underage boys in their underwear, “inconclusive.”
A phone number that previously belonged to Von Zabern is now disconnected.
The report praised social services for consistently checking on children in open cases, but found that the number of social workers was below the state’s recommended minimum for a county as large as Riverside. They had hired more, but said Wednesday, they were still working to align caseloads with state guidelines.
The agency also said Wednesday, along with leadership changes, it has expanded a review panel to assess current and past cases and integrated training with County Counsel and Children’s Services to align responsibilities and clarify policies.