Mom charged in baby’s death had already lost custody of 3 kids
A K2-addict Bronx mom with a history of having her kids taken away by ACS was allowed to keep her baby despite claims of drug use and neglect in her squalid home — and two weeks later, she allegedly killed him, sources told The Post on Wednesday.
Administration for Children’s Services workers visited Joann McLeod’s apartment in the Bronx River Houses on May 20 based on a complaint, but decided that 5-month-old Raymond Porfil Jr. was not in danger, the sources said.
He died that day, and she was charged Tuesday with murder.
“If ACS was at the apartment, and they saw what they saw, they should have done something instead of leaving things the way they were,” said the boy’s father, Raymond Porfil Sr.
“Maybe if they had done something about Joann, my son would still be alive.”
“Maybe if they had done something about Joann, my son would still be alive.”
A high-ranking police source called it business as usual for the embattled agency, which promised an overhaul when Commissioner David Hansell took over in February 2017.
“This system is so flawed, it’s pathetic,” said the source. “It’s always been that way.”
“This system is so flawed, it’s pathetic,” said the source. “It’s always been that way.”
Seven months after Hansell took the helm at the agency — reeling from a spate of high-profile deaths, including the 2016 broomstick-bludgeoning of 6-year-old Zymere Perkins in Harlem — he told The Post that ACS was moving in the right direction.
“I know there’s a feeling of greater stability,” Hansell said in an October 2017 interview. “I think morale is improving, and I think people are feeling the tangible impact of the reforms that we have made.”
Those reforms — which Hansell said included hiring nearly 1,200 caseworkers to reduce the average workload — didn’t help little Raymond.
McLeod, 30, already had three children — now 8, 11 and 13 — removed from her care by ACS in 2010 and sent to live with their father because of her drug use and “medical neglect,” sources said.
That history prompted ACS to “escalate” the May 20 visit to the level of “supervisor” and “manager” — yet Raymond and his 19-month-old sister, Rayjasmin, were left with her to live in squalor, the sources said.
A source close to the probe insisted that ACS did as much as it could, stressing that McLeod had no known history of physical abuse against any of her five kids.
The source said caseworkers got medical attention for Raymond and also took the case to Family Court, where they and won an order requiring the mother to receive drug treatment and parenting classes.
On June 4, McLeod repeatedly hurled her son against the wall of their public-housing apartment, leaving him with multiple skull fractures and brain swelling, prosecutors charge.
She then let the baby lie unresponsive in his crib for more than an hour — even leaving the apartment at one point — delaying the call to 911 “because she was concerned that she would go to jail,” court papers say.
By the time McLeod got around to calling for help, it was too late.
Raymond was pronounced dead at St. Barnabas Hospital.
After her arrest, McLeod tried to blame the death on Rayjasmin, according to court records.
“Babies cry, so you hold them, comfort them — not hurt them,” wailed Estella Walker, Porfil Sr.’s sister. “He was the sweetest thing. He couldn’t defend himself.”
“How do you do this to an innocent little baby?” asked Walker, 43. “He’s so little.”
Porfil Sr. — the father of Raymond Jr. and Rayjasmin, but not McLeod’s three older sons — said things started to go downhill when he left McLeod to check into drug rehab about two months ago.
“When I was living there, I kept the place clean,” said Porfil Sr., 49. “As soon as I moved out, Joann stopped taking care of the place.
“When I was living there, I kept the place clean,” said Porfil Sr., 49. “As soon as I moved out, Joann stopped taking care of the place.
“I would show up to visit and there would be dirty clothes all over the floor, dishes in the sink.”
He said McLeod always took better care of their daughter, focusing her ire on Raymond Jr. “One time when I wasn’t there, she hit him in the eyes,” Porfil Sr. claimed. “I think she hit him because he looked like me, and to her I was a bastard. She would take her anger out on him.”
Rayjasmin has been placed with her uncle, Loriano Porfil.
Porfil Sr. also alleged McLeod abused synthetic marijuana, giving her violent tendencies.
“I think when she was taking K2, that’s when she started hitting the baby,” he said. “I wish she would burn in hell.”
McLeod, charged with murder and manslaughter, was held without bail at her Tuesday arraignment. She’s due back in court Friday.
ACS issued a statement defending its handling of the allegations against McLeod.
“Like all New Yorkers, we’re saddened by this tragedy. As soon as we received this report to the state hot line, our staff took immediate action,” said spokeswoman Marisa Kaufman.
Additional reporting by Larry Celona and Aaron Feis
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