EXCLUSIVE: Biological father of six-year-old girl torn from foster parents because she is part Native American is a violent drug criminal who bragged of 'white supremacist friends'

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The biological father of a child seized from the only foster parents she has known because they are not Native American is a serial criminal, Daily Mail Online can disclose.

The six-year-old girl, Lexi, was taken from Rusty and Summer Page so she can be given to new foster parents chosen by the Choctaw nation. Her biological father is enrolled as a member.

The real father, Jay Ellerfobes, can be named for the first time. He has spoken on the case to describe it on social media as '#1 story in the nation'.

But crucial new details about his lengthy criminal history, which includes at least felonies, can be disclosed.

He has spent time in prison for, among other offenses, drugs and grand theft, and boasted that he has white supremacist friends. A former girlfriend told Daily Mail Online that he abused her.

Real father: Jay Ellerforbes can be named as the biological father of Lexi, the girl taken from her foster parents after a court order. He has lost custody of both the children he is seen with

Lost their child: Rusty and Summer Page fostered Lexi from the age of two. They have fought a court battle to keep their foster daughter in the only family she can remember, but lost

Loss: Six-year-old Lexi (in pink) was removed from her foster parents, Summer and Rusty because she is Native American and they are not, on Monday

Handed over: Lexi clutched a teddy bear as she was forced to enter a black government car with social workers on Monday

The convictions were disclosed as a family services worker involved in the case spoke out to Daily Mail Online to reveal concerns over the handling of the case.

Lauren Axline said that the Native American unit of Los Angeles County's Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) had been 'deceptive' and 'crooked' in their handling of Lexi's case.

The case centers around laws which designate children as Native American and mean that their welfare is the responsibility of their tribe if they have proven tribal ancestry.

But Lexi - and her biological father - have never lived on a reservation or been subject to tribal law before.

He even denied that he was Native American when his mother raised the issue with Los Angeles County DCFS, and told them that he was an enrolled member of the Choctaw Nation, of Oklahoma.

The biological father is at the center of the case, although Lexi is not going to be returned to him.

He has lost custody of at least one other child, court records show, and Lexi is to be sent to a foster family in Utah which the tribe see as related to her.

She is to be looked after by a woman called Ginger, whose uncle is Lexi's step-grandfather, having been in a relationship with her father's mother. Her grandmother is now dead.

However a series of concerns over her father can now be disclosed.

Daily Mail Online can reveal he is currently facing charges of possession of meth and drug paraphernalia from March 2014, according to court records.

The case is currently 'pending' at Pasadena Courthouse.

He was also arrested by the LAPD gang and narcotics division in August 2006.

In January 2004, Forbes was sentenced to three years in state prison for grand theft auto, receiving stolen property and owning or operating a vehicle 'chop shop'.

He was charged with these crimes shortly after being released from a four-year jail term for grand theft, stealing a vehicle, forgery and counterfeiting and various other vehicle-related crimes.

Forbes was sentenced to four years in state prison in Sept 2001 for these crimes.

Just months earlier he had also been found guilty of domestic battery, false identification and possessing burglary tools.

His criminal history stretches back to 1992 when he was jailed for various during offenses including driving while suspended and failure to appear in court.

A year later he was placed under probation after being found in possession of drugs.

In 1994 he was charged with unlawful taking of a vehicle, receiving stolen property and the reckless evading of a police officer.

Separately, a former girlfriend of Forbes, told of her concerns. 

Tammy Kuhn, 46, from San Fernando, California was in a relationship with him from 1999 until 2003 and they have a daughter together, who is now a teenager.

The teen was raised by her grandfather but now lives with the same family in Utah where Lexi is staying.

She was sent away after Forbes and Tammy lost custody due to substance abuse.

'Jay and I did not have a good relationship, he never resolved problems with women and he had a drug problem, he took Meth, as did I,' said Tammy.

'He would never hurt his kids, he tried to be a good dad, but the problem was the relationship part, he would argue and fight with his women in front of the kids.

'He would get violent, he hit me numerous times, mainly when we were under the influence of drugs, Meth, but he wanted to be in control of me.

'He's getting older and getting better, but I think he still has that violent streak in him.'

Tammy, who is now clean of drugs and works at an insurance brokerage, said it was hard to get away from Forbes at first.

'We both went to prison and both got sober but it didn't work out even then,' she said.

Tammy says that ever since losing contact with Lexi, Forbes doesn't work and has become depressed.

'I've not seen him for a year, he's been living with his father and doesn't leave the house.'

However concerns were also raised over the conduct of the Native American unit of Los Angeles DCFS by a former worker for another arm of DCFS.

Speaking out: Lauren Axline, who was the foster social care worker of four years for the Page family, tells Daily Mail Online of her concerns about the way the case was dealt with 

Lauren Axline, 34, who worked for the foster agency handling Lexi's case for four years said she believed it  'hid' key-facts, 'overlooked' damning visitation reports and 'refused' to put the child's best interests first.

In an exclusive interview with Daily Mail Online she said: 'They are supposed to do what is in the best interests of the child and what will cause her the least amount of trauma, but over and over they chose not to do that.

'Even at the very end, the way they went to the house and took her, it was wrong, Lexi will be traumatized.'

Axline says the way Lexi was taken from her home is a 'disgrace'.

She said: 'A transition process was talked about with the DCFS and they still said no, instead they snatched her, it's a disgrace.

'That is the worst possible way, that child is going to be traumatized by what happened.'

Former case worker Axline, who worked closely with Lexi and the Page family for four years until she quit the role in October last year, says the Native American unit of the DCFS have behaved terribly and wants to expose their 'lies' and 'cover-ups'.

'As a foster agency we report what we find in each child's case to the county and the county is supposed to take that information to the courts,' she explained.

'But we were reporting the different instances in Lexi's case that were really concerning us, things that were concerning me as the social worker working the case, but they weren't passed on.

'I'm talking visitations with the Utah family during which Lexi was an absolute mess, the DCFS would tell her that she would have to have a visit and she would go ballistic and she would go crying and crying and when she would come back from a visit it would take her days and days to get back into her normal routine and behaviors.

'Once they started overnight visitations that was even worse, it was taking her weeks to get back to normal.'

She added: 'I was monitoring a visitation with him and Lexi, it was early on when he was just released from jail and he was talking about his time inside, he was sharing with me about how tough it was to be there and said that he had to stick around with his white buddies, my white supremacist friends he said.

'He said they had to protect each other from the other gangs in jail.'

Axline said that what was worse was that when Lexi's biological father Forbes was released from prison on good behavior after serving around nine months, he was allowed four hour unmonitored visits with Lexi just a month later.

Protesters gathered to try and prevent Santa Clarita officials from removing the girl but could only watch as the child was removed

'Lexi would come back and report these odd things, she told us she would hide behind furniture because she was scared because her father was yelling and making her cry, whether he was shouting at her or at someone else I don't know.

'She once came back and said she took a shower with her father in the middle of the day during a four hour visit. She never said anything bad happened, but these are things are red flags that should be passed on.

'So we were hearing these things from Lexi, she was coming back and reporting it to us, we'd report it to the DCFS and they were ignoring it. They were crooked, her father got longer visitations.

'They were refusing to put the information in their report which was then going to the court.'

Axline added that Lexi would 'hysterically cry' during visits with the family she now lives with in Utah.

The family was brought in after, according to court papers, Lexi's father decided to no longer pursue visitation rights to his daughter, even though he was getting closer to having her full time.

But according to Axline the DCFS continued to ignore her reports.

'Instead of writing she was 'hysterically crying', as I told them, they would put, 'Lexi had such a fun time at Disneyland when they went, she was smiling and laughing'. It was completely deceptive.

'It doesn't make sense, because over and over and over, we informed them that it was detrimental to this child.

'What you're seeing now is a culmination of all the stuff they have been doing this last four years.'

Axline said things got so bad that her agency began reporting things directly to the court so they could at least see both sides.

Ironically, while Lexi has been sent to a non-Native American family, Axline reveals that foster mom Summer has Native American heritage - she is connected to the Tuscarora Tribe.

'It doesn't make any sense, Summer Page is native non-blood but the family in Utah is non-native, non-blood,' she said.

What's worse Axline fears the family in Utah are somehow in cahoots with Lexi's father.

She recalls: 'I remember after one visitation with the family in Utah Lexi came home and said that Jay was at the restaurant with them, the Utah family had obviously invited him along. How could we trust Lexi was safe if that was true. Again we told the county this.'

For the Page family's part in this whole saga, Axline says they have been 'amazing'.

'They have loved on Lexi from day one and truly made her a part of their family.

'None of what was happening made sense to them and that's why the Page family were fighting so hard. The county was lying and they said they would not stand idly by and watch these things happen.'

Philip Browning, Director of the Los Angeles County Department of Children and Family Services said: 'The law does not allow me to comment on details regarding specific children who are receiving DCFS services. 

'I am aware that there are questions whether my department will comply with a court order to replace a child in accordance with the federal Indian Child Welfare Act. 

'I want to assure the public that my Department will continue to act in the best interest of the children we serve and remain in compliance with the court orders and laws governing our work. 

'I am also aware that sometimes the court must make orders that involve resolving competing priorities and interests. 

'Often there are no easy solutions, but when a court makes an order, we must follow it.'