Santa Rosa jury foreman wants more people to be aware of signs of abuse

Steve Share of Santa Rosa witnessed one of the most gruesome criminal trials in Sonoma County in recent memory.

He would like something good to come out of it.

Share was foreman of the jury that found Jose Centeno guilty in July of 11 charges related to the abuse and torture of his three adopted children.

Sonoma County Superior Court Judge Troye Shaffer sentenced him to six consecutive life sentences, telling a packed courtroom that she had “never seen anything like this before.”

Neither had Share. And that’s why he’s speaking out.

“There will be systematic changes. There has to be,” he said. “They need to figure out how this can’t happen again.”

While Jose Centeno was sentenced to prison for the rest of his life, his wife Gina died of cancer in January while in custody.

Share is not interested in revisiting the horrors Centeno inflicted on children who should be in his care. His focus today is how more of us can become aware of what abuse and neglect looks like and what to do when we see it.

It is Share’s belief that many people over the years have had the opportunity to report what happened at Gina and Jose Centeno’s home in Rohnert Park.

Some of those people were legally required to report what Share described as obvious signs of abuse. But there were others he thinks knew something but didn’t say anything.

They were not so-called mandated reporters, those who were required by law to submit a report, but less official observers who were nevertheless in a position to witness how the children were doing in their household, how they were growing up and what was happening. happened when she stopped going to their neighborhood school.

“There were so many opportunities,” Share said. “There were things that people observed and never acted on.”

It is Share’s hope that as more people become compelled, inspired and confident to report suspected abuse or neglect, lives will be saved.

In California, the long list of mandated reporters includes teachers and employees of public and private schools, employees of youth centers and youth recreation programs, county health officials who handle minors, peace officers and firefighters, dentists, clergy and athletics personnel. coaches.

But that doesn’t mean others can’t call with concerns.

“I would like people to know what it means to be a mandated reporter. And it makes you feel better,” says Share.

Within the county’s Department of Human Services is the Division of Family, Youth and Children, which has a hotline that anyone can call, including mandated reporters. Social workers staff the hotline 24 hours a day, 7 days a week to answer calls from anyone who suspects a child has been abused or neglected by a parent or caregiver.

That hotline is 707-565-4304.

“I imagine it can be scary to make that phone call,” said Donna Broadbent, division director of Family, Youth and Children Services.

Not sure what you saw? Talk to a professional manning the line, Broadbent said.

“I would encourage the person to call and discuss this with the hotline social worker,” she said. “Our staff is very skilled at working with people and helping them.”

That could mean removing children from the home, but that is rare, Broadbent said. It can mean connecting a family in need to a variety of resources, whether it’s parenting support or food.

“When someone calls, it’s his or her job to help the caller and answer the questions,” she said.

In 2023, 8,917 calls were made to the hotline, Broadbent said. Of these, 1,596 merited a personal response to the family in question. As a result, 138 children were removed from households.

In some cases, it is not abuse that a child is suffering from, but poverty.

“Maybe we just say, ‘We don’t think we need to be involved for a longer period of time, but we see your need for it,’” she said.

Share’s experience with an abuse case may have involved children, but he has years of experience as a coordinator of an adult day program for the elderly with dementia. That experience makes him concerned about abuse of older adults.

So watching for signs of elder abuse, especially in Sonoma County, where the population is proportionately older than California overall, is part of his effort.

Nearly 30% of Sonoma County residents are 60 years or older. That compares to 21.7% of California’s total population.

Like Sonoma County, nearly three in 10 Napa residents are 60 or older.

“Elder abuse, in my opinion, is an even bigger problem,” Share said. “I think it should be taken just as seriously.”