Leechburg couple sues over removal of children

Leechburg couple sues over removal of children

Richard Gazarik is a Tribune-Review staff writer and can be reached at 724-830-6292 or via e-mail.

By Richard Gazarik
TRIBUNE-REVIEW
Saturday, July 17, 2010

A former Vandergrift couple claims the Westmoreland County Children's Bureau violated their civil rights last year when the agency forcibly removed their four children without legal cause.

Carrie and Jeremy Richard, who live in Leechburg, filed suit Friday in federal court in Pittsburgh against the agency, caseworkers Nicole Williams and Melissa Melville and Vandergrift Borough.

Attorney Alexander Lindsay charged that the caseworkers removed the children from the Richards' home in July 2009 and then filed a criminal charge against Carrie Richard to justify the removal.

The suit charges the defendants with negligence, civil conspiracy, malicious prosecution and inflicting emotional distress.

The suit contends that the bureau held the children in protective custody for 24 hours without a court order and failed to schedule a formal hearing within the required 72 hours.

Lindsay maintains the bureau failed to keep the report confidential as required by law and did not place the children in an "appropriate" foster home.

Williams and Melville went to the Richards' home to investigate a report that Carrie Richard had given a pill prescribed for her son to her daughter, according to the lawsuit. The next day, the caseworkers returned with a police officer and took custody of the children. On July 23, police filed a felony child endangerment charge against the Richards.

"These charges were filed without probable cause and without any reasonable basis and filed solely to support the illegal seizures of the children in question ... ," Lindsay wrote.

The district attorney's office eventually dismissed the charge.

Lindsay said the investigation should have concluded when the caseworkers learned the charge was unfounded.

In August, the former husband of Carrie Richard was awarded custody of three children; her mother was granted custody of the fourth.

County attorney Mark Geselman declined to comment.

http://www.pittsburghlive.com/x/pittsburghtrib/news/westmoreland/s_690771.html