The Turners fight back
Read part 1, part 2, part 3, part 4, part 5 and part 6.
Joseph and Kera Turner, who escaped the Dixie Fire in August of 2021, were arrested after being ordered to evacuate their California property. Five days after they fled the fire, they were jailed in Reno for possessing stolen property.
The charges were dismissed a year later. The Turners are now fighting back. They’ve filed two lawsuits over the ordeal that still has not been resolved after more than two years.
Their property remains missing, and an adolescent daughter of Kera’s is in the custody of the father of the child after Washoe County CPS alleged the Turners were drug addicts and were neglecting their children. Lassen County CPS could not substantiate Washoe County’s claims, and their toddler was returned to them.
In September, the Turners filed a federal lawsuit against the Washoe County Sheriff’s Office and the county’s Human Services Agency. They filed the complaint themselves. It alleges various civil rights violations.
The Turners sued the babysitter who watched their children after they escaped the Dixie Fire. They prevailed after the woman, Amy Vickers-Manha, and her husband, Zachary, did not respond to their court complaint. They sued for $15,000 for property they said they never received that had been left at the Vickers’ property, including farm animals.
That judgment, however, was set aside because Vickers responded after the initial judgment in favor of the Turners. Kera said they are now seeking summary judgment.
They also filed a federal lawsuit alleging seven civil rights violations, including Fourth Amendment violations, a Second Amendment claim of withholding firearms, detention of a minor and interference with familial relations. They are suing WCSO, Washoe County’s Human Services Agency and six county social workers. (Read the complaint below.)
“We just got steamrolled.”
The district attorney has not yet responded to the complaint, but Lindsay Liddell, deputy district attorney, filed a motion to get access to the Turners’ confidential juvenile records.
“Four of the seven causes of action are based on child dependency proceedings regarding their minor children,” Liddell wrote. “Outside of those specific documents, there are other potentially relevant records in this matter including filings from the juvenile dependency court case and Human Services Agency’s internal file.”
Kera said she believes Liddell’s motion is meant to continue to discredit them.
“They didn’t file a motion to dismiss or anything; their first move was for the juvenile records to be made public,” Kera said. “We’re presuming that they’re going to try to embarrass us.”
That’s because Kera has made mistakes in the past, such as a misdemeanor DUI charge and CPS record in 2015, she said, adding that mistakes made more than eight years ago do not reflect who she is now.
“They will likely try to use this to paint me as a terrible person,” she explained. “It wasn’t a good thing I did. I live with that, and I own that.”
While in jail, the Turners said they capitulated to Washoe County CPS’ demands so they could get back custody of their children and because county social workers gave them contradictory information.
“Joe and I were being asked to sign a petition through CPS of things we did wrong,” Kera said. “It reads like a criminal charging document, even though they say it’s ‘just civil/family.’”
Their federal lawsuit alleges Joseph signed for a 10-day placement for their children to Vickers-Manha because there was no other option “as the fact of simply being in jail meant that the Plaintiffs could not care for their children.”
Being in jail was a reason Washoe County used to remove their children from their custody, they said. Still, the imprisonment was based on a single report with allegations that they said remain mostly unfounded. The criminal charges against them for possession of stolen property were dismissed.
“WCHSA removed both minor children without conducting interviews with Plaintiffs, refused to place minor children (with) either the Plaintiffs’ families or any lesser interventions, and claimed there was no alternative but to remove,” their complaint alleges.
Washoe County HSA’s director said he could not comment on the Turners’ case, citing privacy laws restricting the county from telling its side of the story. The Turners allege county officials failed to follow basic procedures to keep their family together. After two years, they said they want justice.
“We know we aren’t perfect, we’re human,” Kera said. “None of that meant our kids should be taken and all of the aftermath. If Washoe (County) had looked at us as the tired, ragged fire evacuees who were originally told their home had burned, had just found that a purchase we had made and needed turned out to be bad, had a whole farm of displaced animals and very serious health issues that were brewing, and offered help, we would have gladly accepted.
“We just got steamrolled.”
