A seasoned L.A. County emergency management official who specialized in emergency alerts was charged May 9 with murdering his mother.
The L.A. County District Attorney’s Office alleges Robert Barreras “took advantage of a position of trust and confidence” to commit the murder of Karen Lee Barreras, according to the criminal complaint.
Barreras, a 42-year-old Alhambra resident, was arrested May 7. The Alhambra Police Department did not immediately respond to inquiries for more information on the arrest.
The district attorney’s office confirmed the victim was Barreras’ mother, but declined further comment.
Barreras, who earned roughly $188,000 from the county last year in total compensation, was on leave when the alleged murder took place and has since been suspended without pay, according to a county spokesperson. It was not immediately clear why he was on leave.
Barreras is currently being held at Twin Towers Correctional Facility on $2 million bail. He pleaded not guilty on May 15, according to the court docket.
His attorney did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
Within the office of emergency management, Barreras specialized in building and maintaining the technology that allows county residents to be quickly notified about emergencies through their phones, radios, and television. Since joining the county in 2016, he participated in multiple panels detailing how these alert systems worked for L.A. County.
The alert system has been under scrutiny since the January wildfires after the county failed for hours to send alerts to parts of Altadena decimated by flames and later sent out glitchy alerts to residents in unaffected areas.
The county said in a statement that Barreras was assigned to administrative duties and “had no operational role in the wildfire response.”
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