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Reunite me with my baby boy Mason

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Hello and welcome to my GoFundMe page. My name is Jesus (Jessie) Flores. On March 17, 2015, my life was enriched by the birth of my son Mason. Mason was a good baby, but there were some subtle signs of health issues that didn’t seem like anything at the time, but looking back were extremely important.
On May 21, 2015, Mason lost consciousness and stopped breathing. I was alone with him when this happened. I tried to wake him up without success. When this didn’t work I called 911. I was instructed over the phone how to perform CPR and rescue breathing, which I did until help arrived.
Mason was transported to Bakersfield Memorial Hospital where he underwent a CT scan. The scan revealed that Mason had subdural hematomas, or bleeding around the brain. This immediately was presumed to be caused by child abuse and I was the prime suspect. Later that night, Mason was transferred to Valley Children’s Hospital.
Later that night I was taken to Bakersfield Police Department for an interview. Prior to my interview, the rest of the family was interviewed. What I didn’t realize until well into the interview, which was actually an interrogation, was that the detectives doing the interrogation had already concluded that I had shaken my 2 month old son, causing his injuries.
They told me that the only way a baby’s brain would bleed is from shaking and the only timeframe possible was when I was alone with my baby. They eventually convinced me that I must have been the cause of my son’s condition. I was given a doll and asked to demonstrate how I “shook” my baby. I showed the detectives how I’d tried to soothe my fussy child with a rocking motion earlier in the day. This was used as an admission that I’d shaken my son. The rocking I showed them in no way was abusive or violent, but the detectives used this as a confession and the next day informed the child abuse doctor at Valley Children’s Hospital, that I had confessed and demonstrated this violent shaking of my baby.
This became my son’s diagnosis, and days later I was arrested.
My bail was set at $1million. I was charged with child abuse causing comatose condition, which carries a sentence of 7 years to life in prison. I was able to hire an attorney, David Faulkner, for my criminal charges, and was appointed one to represent me in the fight to keep my parental rights.
I felt like I had the entire world against me. I had an army of doctors saying I had abused my child, and the police department, CPS, courts, and the Kern County District Attorney’s office, poised to prove this, take my child, and lock me away for a very long time.
While my defense attorney prepared to defend me in a very one-sided and medically complex case, my parental rights were stripped away from me. I was very fortunate that we were able to find the proper and knowledgeable experts and have them court-appointed in my criminal case. These experts were actually the first doctors to properly and thoroughly evaluate what actually caused Mason’s collapse. Mason had a fluid build-up in his head which caused bleeding that eventually reached the surface of his brain, causing the seizure and loss of consciousness.
The juvenile court stripping away my parental rights had no interest in hearing anything exonerating me, as everyone involved, CPS, the Court, or even my own appointed attorney, never questioned the accusations against me. The right thing to do would have been to wait for the outcome of my trial, however, that wasn’t the case and my parental rights were terminated.
On June 16, 2017, after 3 weeks of trial, I was finally found not guilty. That was the end of the criminal case nightmare, but I still do not have my son, who is now pending adoption by the foster parent that has had him since his release from the hospital. That adoption is set to finalize in October 2017.
I need your help to stop this. Common sense would say to return my son to me, but that’s not what is happening. Instead, I am not allowed to visit my son and CPS’ position is that I can attempt to arrange visitation AFTER the adoption is finalized!! I need to hire competent legal help NOW to stop this outrageous travesty. I’ve done nothing other than to love my son and I’ve had these heinous charges placed against me and had my child stripped out of my, and my family’s loving arms. Please help me end this nightmare and bring Mason home.

Organizer and beneficiary

Jesus Flores
Organizer
Bakersfield, CA
Patricia Villa Salas
Beneficiary

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