Magalia mothers headed to prison
Failed to protect children from relationship partner’s abuse
OROVILLE >> Two Magalia women received decadelong sentences in state prison Wednesday for their refusal to protect their children from horrific abuse at the hands of their polyamorous partner.
Kelsey Cabrera, 35, and Amanda Johnson, 39, each learned of her 10-year, eight-month sentence in Butte County Superior Court. Judge Jesus Rodriguez handed down the sentences to the women, who had previously pleaded no contest to multiple charges of child abuse and witness dissuading related to their five minor children.
The sentences resulted from years of physical and sexual abuse that were inflicted on their biological children by their co-defendant, Robert Chavez, 41. Cabrera, Johnson and Chavez were involved in a polyamorous relationship — a “love triangle” — during 2021-23. The trio most recently lived together at a home on Colter
Way in Magalia, along with the children, who ranged in ages from 4 to 16.
Three of the minor children were Cabrera’s biological children, while two were the biological children of Johnson. None was biologically related to Chavez.
The case began with a disclosure made by one of the children at school in January 2023. After interviewing the child, investigators from the Butte County District Attorney’s Office went to the Magalia home and arrested Chavez after a four-hour standoff.
Over the following weeks, the investigators conducted multiple interviews and learned the extent of the abuse that occurred in the home at the hands of Chavez. The children disclosed multiple incidents of sexual abuse, as well as extreme levels of physical abuse.
Chavez received a prison sentence of 80 years to life, for his criminal acts in the case, May 12.
Butte County District Attorney Mike Ramsey said the abuse committed by Chavez against the minors was easily one of the worst cases his office had seen in some time. Ramsey noted Chavez had been physically abusing all of the children, and sexually abusing some of the female children for over a year, with incidents occurring so often that it was impossible to grasp the full extent of what the children suffered.
Details
The children described Chavez shooting them with BB guns, beating them with whips and paddles, and punching and kicking them in their faces and bodies. Chavez would routinely take pleasure in torturing a young boy in the home, beating him until he could not stand and inflicting extensive bruising.
Chavez also burned a young girl with cigarettes to her face. Chavez would also threaten to harm the children if they ever disclosed any of the abuse.
After the first child came forward and disclosed the abuse at school, authorities removed the other children from the home and interviewed them. The witnessdissuading charge on the mothers stemmed from the day the children were removed from the home. On that day, in the presence of law enforcement officers, both Cabrera and Johnson told their children not to talk to investigators about what was happening in the home.
Ramsey stated that during the investigation, his investigators discovered evidence that not only were Cabrera and Johnson aware that the physical abuse was occurring, but they were present for some of the more horrific incidents, and failed to do anything to stop Chavez.
At Wednesday’s sentencing hearing, both Cabrera and Johnson addressed the court, stating that they did not know the sexual abuse was occurring.
The prosecutor, Deputy District Attorney Stephanie Roose, argued that both women were aware of sexual abuse within the home as both women had acknowledged in interviews with investigators that there was an incident where they had walked in on Chavez with one of the minor females. There were additional incidents that they said had raised their suspicions.
Rodriguez agreed and found the women’s assertions they had no knowledge of the sexual abuse not credible, due to what they had seen and heard in the home. It was also clear they were aware of the physical abuse as they were present during many of those incidents.
The judge then sentenced both women to the maximum sentence. He cited the egregious and violent level of continuous abuse suffered by the children while they were in the home, the callous nature of the crimes, the fact that weapons were used against the children and that the mothers never did anything to stop the abuse.