I-TEAM: Questions about missed probation appointment in case of Stamford father named as person of interest in son’s killing

(WFSB) - The father suspected of killing his two-year-old son in Stamford, was not allowed to be around him. That’s because there was a protective order in place after he pleaded guilty to breaking the child’s arm.

But as the I-Team explains, there’s also questions about why he wasn’t arrested after breaking probation in June.

According to court records, Edgar Ismalej-Gomez received a five-year prison sentence in April after pleading guilty to assaulting his then 6-month-old son.

But his sentence was suspended after only serving 60 days in jail and was put on probation.

“That right there tells you something about how little perpetrators of child abuse and domestic violence are being held to account, even when there is clear evidence, they’re convicted, they admit to the crime,” says Danielle Pollack, of the National Family Violence Law Center. “They’re sentenced to 5 years, why are they let out after 60 days and on probation.”

Two months later, he didn’t show up for one of his probation appointments.

Records show when the probation officer tried to find where he was, she found the number he gave her was out of service.

She waited until July to mail him a letter, only to have it returned.

It wasn’t until August that the probation officer went to the address he gave her, only to find out the address didn’t exist.

A warrant was then issued.

Family violence advocate Danielle Pollack says CT lawmakers need to take a hard look at systemic gaps when it comes to domestic violence cases.

This case follows the case of Julie Minogue, a Milford woman police say was killed by her ex-boyfriend, whom she had a restraining order against, and the killing of a one-year-old in Naugatuck by her father, who was on probation.

“This third incident now really calls CT to look at some serious reforms around what is failing in this system. Is there inadequate training for people in the courts and law enforcement, the probation officers? There are trainings that are superficial and trainings that are in depth.,” says Danielle Pollack. “These are not one off cases, these kinds of things keep happening and in part because there are delays in the system response to these really known dangerous individuals.”

Police did say Ismalej-Gomez was living in the same home as his son, despite the protective order.

When asked if the boy’s mother could face charges in the future, they declined to comment.

“There’s some speculation, did the mother you know permit it or not, was she coerced to give the father access, was she being threatened. There are a lot of questions still about that part of it,” says Pollack. “To the outside person, the first question might be, well why did she let him have access? But sometimes, in the victims’ mind, in the adult victim, they’re thinking, well it will be less dangerous if I give him a little bit of what he wants and then I try to get to safety.”

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