We are Kathey and Rob Raskin of Las Vegas, and while we are saddened to bring you yet another tragedy involving a child who was failed by the system, this story also has a silver lining—a former CPS worker has resigned due to the case of the murder of Brook Stagles, and now she is devoting her time to raising awareness of the situation that caused a three-year-old child to slip through the cracks, resulting in her murder. Former Monroe County CPS worker Jessica Lucus used to love her job, but she has since resigned due to what she described as a “toxic work environment” that contributed to the girl’s death when workers failed to protect her.

Too Late for One Child

The child’s father, Michael Stagles, has since plead guilty for his role in the death, and he has been sentenced to federal prison. His girlfriend, Erica Bell, who was not the toddler’s mother, was convicted of murder and manslaughter in the child’s beating death. The child’s mother and the mother’s family tried and failed to gain custody of the child prior to her death as a result of blows she received to her abdomen, and in the two weeks preceding the death the Monroe County Department of Human Services’ Child Protective Services unit has received two reports of abuse perpetrated against the toddler.

Lucus was not able to save poor little Brook Stagles from the monsters who abused and killed her, but we, Kathey and Rob Raskin, hope that Ms. Lucus’s actions will help save other children in the future.