Alameda County launches investigation into Sophia Mason's death

MERCED COUNTY, Calif. (KFSN) -- A family is seeking justice for an 8-year-old girl they say was failed by the system.

Sophia Mason was found dead in a bathtub at a Merced home last March, despite family members reporting abuse to social workers where she lived in the Bay Area.

The fight for justice for 8-year-old Mason continues not just in the Central Valley, but also in the Bay Area.

On Tuesday, the Alameda County Board of Supervisors voted unanimously to authorize an independent investigation into the county's handling of her case.

"I am requesting, respectively, that the board support an independent investigation following a very horrifically tragic death," Supervisor Lena Tam said.

Sophia's body was found inside a Merced home last March.

Authorities say Sophia was physically and sexually abused, and forced to live in a metal shed in the backyard of a house in Merced in the last months of her life.

Last September, Sophia's cousin Melissa Harris told Action News the family called case workers for help and that Sophia herself told them she was being abused.

"In the times that Sophia herself said that 'I am being choked, I am being hit,' that she is not safe. They discounted it. They said maybe you fell off a bike," Harris said. "Hearing her anguish and hearing her fear, they did nothing but return her back to Samantha and Dhante. As we know, all of it was founded and substantiated because she's no longer with us today."

That's why Sophia's family decided to take legal action.

"We're thrilled that the county is taking this case seriously, that they're choosing to look into it," said Carly Sanchez Booth, the family's attorney.

In April, her firm filed a lawsuit against Alameda County, claiming social workers at the Department of Children and Family Services failed Sophia by breaking state child welfare regulations.

Sanchez also says she hopes the county will be transparent with the community.

"This investigation is a step closer to justice for them. The filing of the lawsuit is a step closer to justice for them. nothing will bring Sophia back, of course, but they are. They are happy to know that the county is taking it seriously. And in looking into this by way of the investigation."

Sophia's mother, Samantha Johnson, and her boyfriend, Dhante Jackson, have been charged in the girl's death and are in custody awaiting trial.

However, Mason's loved ones also place blame on the Alameda County Department of Children and Family Services.

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