Welfare Worker and Supervisor Charged in Death of Child

Welfare Worker and Supervisor Charged in Death of Child - NYTimes.com

A former city child welfare worker and his supervisor were indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide, the Brooklyn district attorney announced Wednesday, saying that their failures had contributed to the death of a 4-year-old Brooklyn girl, Marchella Pierce, who had been repeatedly beaten and tied to a bed and weighed just 18 pounds at the end of her life in September.

The girl’s grandmother, who witnessed her being tied to the bed many times, according to the district attorney, also was indicted, on manslaughter and other charges. The girl’s mother already faces murder charges.

The district attorney, Charles J. Hynes, also said he was convening a special grand jury to investigate whether the city’s child welfare agency, the Administration for Children’s Services, had followed through on its plan for reforms after the 2006 death of Nixzmary Brown, a 7-year-old Brooklyn girl who died from repeated beatings at the hands of her stepfather.

An A.C.S. report in October on Marchella’s death said that its workers and an independent agency contracted to look after the family had missed or ignored signs that the girl’s mother, who had a history of drug use, was incapable of caring for her. The report also expressed doubts that child welfare workers made visits to the home that they said they had made.

Damon Adams, the former A.C.S. caseworker assigned to Marchella’s case, and his supervisor, Chereece Bell, were each indicted on charges of criminally negligent homicide, official misconduct and endangering the welfare of a child. Mr. Adams also was charged with tampering with public records and falsifying records.

According to the district attorney, after Marchella died, Mr. Adams posted an entry in the agency’s computer records to make it appear that he had made visits to the family when he had not. Ms. Bell was accused of failing to properly oversee and monitor Mr. Adams’s work.

Marchella’s grandmother, Loretta Brett, witnessed the girl being bound to her bed on most days between March and her death in September, the district attorney said. For part of that time, the bed was in the grandmother’s room.

“Baby Marchella might be alive today, had these A.C.S. workers attended to her case with the basic levels of care it deserved, or had her grandmother stepped in and put a stop to the shocking abuse she is charged with facilitating,” Mr. Hynes said.

According to prosecutors, Marchella’s mother, Carlotta Brett-Pierce, tied Marchella to her bed, beat her with a belt and videocasette tape, deprived her of food and water, and force-fed her medication including Claritin and a generic form of Benadryl. Marchella died Sept. 2 of child abuse syndrome, along with acute drug poisoning, blunt impact injuries, malnutrition and dehydration, prosecutors said.