Casa Pacifica faces Lawsuit over Death of Teen

CAMARILLO, Calif. (KEYT) A Santa Barbara County family has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Casa Pacifica in the wake of their loved one's death.

John and Cindy Bratt of Northern Santa Barbara County said they don't want their heartbreak to happen to other families.

The Bratts had grown children when they opened their hearts and home to 5 foster children including 2-year-old Pipper and her three older sisters.

"Pipper, when she hit about 13, she started showing signs of a mental issue and so we got in contact with doctors and put her in therapy and learned a lot from psychiatrists," said Cindy Bratt.

When Pipper was hospitalized in Bakersfield for depression and anxiety she accused John Bratt of sexual abuse, something she later recanted. 

The teen ended up in foster care, a group home and youth shelter before the Bratts' heard about Casa Pacifica, off Lewis Road in Camarillo.

"It looked like a great place to be, the mental health, the school, she needed on sight," said Cindy Bratt.

But the licensed facility is open, meaning, the teens are free to come and go.

Pipper would often leave the facility.

In September, the Bratts received a call about an accident on Lewis Road involving Pipper.

"Dr. Bennett, a psychiatrist, proceeded to tell us he has some bad news for us, she had been hit by a car," said Cindy Bratt.

She was brain dead.

They donated her organs on September 23rd, just shy of her 15th birthday.

Then, 16 and 17-year-old Casa Pacific residents came forward and told the Bratts Pipper had been  drugged, sexually abused, and trafficked by a Santa Barbara County man just days before her death.

The two teens said they were victims, too.

The suspect, Benito Najera, is now facing charges including child porn in Santa Barbara County.

With the help of their attorney Wyatt Vespermann, the Bratts filed a wrongful death lawsuit.

"The evidence speaks for itself, it is common sense the the child that has gone through what Pipper, the trauma, she needed intensive therapies, she might have needed hospitalization, she needed one on one supervision, she got none of that," said Vespermann, "She was allowed to walk out of that facility and now she is no longer with us."

Casa Pacifica leadership chose not to comment yet on the pending civil lawsuit, but sent "sincere condolences."

"It is really frustrating because they painted Casa Pacfica as the answer to what was happening to Pipper," said John Bratt, "It is a horrible breakdown of the system and there are more children as risk."

"We love our daughter, we miss our daughter, our kids miss our daughter and cry," said Cindy Bratt, Just because she had mental illness, she wasn't a bad kid, I don't want other families going through this it needs to stop."

The lawsuit, filed in Ventura County, seeks damages and demands a jury trial  

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