RIVERSIDE, California – An illegal immigrant from Mexico and his girlfriend whose four children were seized by Riverside County officials with judicial approval due to allegations of parental neglect, drug use, and failure to address mental health issues have been arrested on a federal criminal complaint charging them with forging a judge’s signature on a court document related to their federal lawsuit over the seizure, the Justice Department announced today.
Alan David Cadena, 43, and LayCee Shyann Sprouse, 34, both of Riverside, are charged with misuse of federal judicial signatures.
Both defendants, who were arrested late Thursday, are expected to make their initial appearances this afternoon in United States District Court in Riverside. No pleas will be taken today.
According to an affidavit filed with the complaint, in August 2025, the Riverside County Department of Public Social Services (DPSS) received a referral regarding allegations of child neglect by Cadena and Sprouse. DPSS agents investigated and eventually filed warrants requesting the removal of all four children from the defendants’ custody due to unsanitary living conditions, recent drug use by the defendants, general neglect, and Sprouse’s failure to address mental health issues. DPSS took the four children into custody.
Cadena and Sprouse challenged DPSS’s actions in Riverside County Superior Court, seeking the return of their children, but that court ruled in DPSS’s favor. In February 2026, Cadena and Sprouse – representing themselves – filed a civil rights lawsuit in United States District Court challenging the child custody proceedings in state court and requested injunctive relief in the form of an order requiring the immediate return of their children.
On April 21, 2026, Cadena and Sprouse filed an order containing a federal judge’s forged signature ordering the return of their children from DPSS. On April 23, 2026, the victim judge confirmed she had not issued the order and the signature found on the document was a forgery.
A criminal complaint merely contains allegations. All defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty beyond a reasonable doubt in a court of law.
If convicted, each defendant would face a statutory maximum sentence of five years in federal prison.
Special Agents of the United States Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California, Criminal Investigative Division are investigating this matter.
Assistant United States Attorneys Kyle W. Kahan and Kent M. Walters of the General Crimes Section are prosecuting this case.