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DNA PROVES
CARRERO
According to documents filed in Salem Probate and Family Court last September; Councilor Barbara Gonzalez, from District “C”, accused Carrero of being the father of her daughter born in 2003. City Councilor Gonzales also alleged that Mr. Carrero refused to pay child support for their daughter, now two years old. Former Lawrence School Committeeman Ralph Carrero has repeatedly denied being the father of Lawrence City Councilor Barbara Gonzalez’ child. Councilor Gonzalez asked the court to order suitable child support, retroactive child support from the date of birth of the child - September 24, 2003 - and order Carrero to provide health and dental insurance for his daughter. “In the years I have been doing this, I have never seen a paternity test result come back with such a high degree of certainty as to the identity of a father in question,” said Attorney Sandy Durland of Packenham, Schmidt and Federico, who represents Barbara Gonzalez. “The
paternity test has been completed and it is conclusive.
The next step will be to determine “He certainly has that right,” Attorney Durland continued. “He is the father and as the father he can petition for visitation as well as custody if he so chooses, but I would be very surprised if any court would grant any kind of custody after he denied being the father for so long.” As of this report, Carrero has shown no interest and made no formal request for court-ordered visitation with his daughter. Carrero, who is married and until recently lived on Dartmouth Street in Lawrence, (two houses away from Councilor Gonzalez), is president of the board of trustees at the Lawrence Family Development Charter School on West Street in Lawrence. Carrero is also a coordinator of student services at a local high school. Within days of the Valley Patriot breaking the exclusive story last September, Carrero sold his house and moved out of Lawrence yet he remains on the board of the Family Development Charter School. Carrero served two (four year) terms on the Lawrence School Committee and was the first Latino ever elected to public office in the history of Lawrence. He ran for mayor unsuccessfully in 2001 and has been a board member of both the Dominican American National Roundtable in Washington D.C. and the Casa Dominicana in Lawrence. During his eight years on the Lawrence School Committee, and as a candidate for mayor in 2001, Carrero frequently lectured parents about not taking responsibility for their children and spoke often about the “importance of fathers taking responsibility for their own children.” “Parent involvement is critical to the successful development of every child,” Carrero said during a political debate in 2001. “Most importantly, fathers need to take responsibility for the children they father if these kids are ever going to have a fighting chance to succeed in life.” Attorney Durland said that a case management conference is scheduled for January 3rd, 2006, “to lay out a timeline for the rest of the case.” “A judge will look at everything at that point and we will have to see if Mr. Carrero will continue to contest or if an agreement can be reached on child support,” Attorney Durland said. “Different judges do different things,” he continued, “some judges will hear the facts of the case at a case management conference and some will not. “Every judge is different. So we have no hard date as to when this can be resolved. I would only hope this doesn’t have to go any further in court and a settlement can be reached.” Councilor Barbara Gonzalez was voted by the Lawrence City Council to fill the vacated seat of Nilka Alvarez last summer. Since The Valley Patriot broke the exclusive story in our September edition, Spanish language newspapers and talk radio stations have vilified Councilor Gonzalez, making her the brunt of scathing personal attacks while defending Carrero as “a pillar of the community,” saying Gonzalez’ allegations were “lies.” A family member of Councilor Gonzalez who did not want to be identified for the story said that she was “disgusted by the public reaction in the Latino community.” “They behave as though Ralph did nothing wrong and that Barbara is the only person responsible for what happened. It takes two to make a baby but, at least Barbara has taken responsibility for her mistakes. Instead of taking his share of the responsibility though, Ralph denied his involvement, denied being the baby’s father and refused to pay for his child.” “This is a huge problem in the Latino community,” she continued. “The woman gets blamed, the man is given a free pass and then people wonder why so many Latino children are growing up without fathers.” “This has been a tragic situation for everyone involved especially the child. I just hope that Ralph will be man enough to own up to his responsibilities now and not drag this out any further,” she said. According to sources close to Carrero and Gonzalez, the two had a four year affair whereby Gonzalez was separated from her husband while Carrero continued in his marriage concealing his involvement with Gonzalez and their baby. Sources say that Gonzalez had an apartment in Lowell where the two maintained their relationship, but when Gonzalez decided to reconcile with her husband and asked Carrero to help out by purchasing diapers for the baby, Carrero refused to provide any support. “Certainly because of the nature of the relationship,” Attorney Durland said, “she (Gonzalez) had no choice but to file for child support and paternity in court. She had tried to work this out behind the scenes to avoid any kind of embarrassment but Mr. Carrero was not amenable to that,” she concluded. Councilor Gonzalez refused to comment on the child support issue or the DNA test proving Ralph Carrero is indeed the father of her child other than to direct us to her attorney. She asked that the Valley Patriot to “hold off” on the story so that a settlement could be reached privately. Gonzalez was defeated in her quest for reelection last November by Lawrence School Committeeman Jorge Gonzalez (no relation). Barbara Gonzalez called for a recount but was not victorious. Attempts to reach Ralph Carrero’s Attorney were unsuccessful while preparing for this story. *Send your questions
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DNA paternity test results filed
with the Essex Family and Probate Court this week show
that “with 99.999% certainty” former Lawrence
School Committeeman Ralph Carrero is the father of
Lawrence City Councilor Gonzalez’s daughter. 
whether we can agree on paternity
before the court, given these findings. From this point
the court must determine what would be an appropriate
amount of child support and whether or not Mr. Carrero
will ask for or be granted visitation with his
child,” Durland said.