A federal jury found Cherokee County and its Department of Social Services officials responsible for harm to a Cherokee County father and his daughter.
The jury awarded Brian Hogan and his daughter $4.6 million late Thursday, May 13, ending the four-day trial at the Asheville Federal Courthouse.
When you add in several other cases which already reached settlements and jury judgements for the total 25 separate lawsuits that were filed against Cherokee County a total payout of over $53 million dollars has been awarded to families.
Those agreements were processed through the Cherokee County Department of Social Services to place children outside of their parents’ homes until they were 18 years old without court approval. The suits alleged the violation of the parents’ and children’s Constitutional rights, as well as violations of state law regarding abused, neglected and dependent juveniles.
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Maybe the next investigation will be the questionable purchase of the building used for DSS. Who received the kickbacks on this sale/financing and why were county funds used to buy a building that was then half leased out for profit to other businesses?
There is evil everywhere in this country. Local elections have consequences also. The woman who was in charge of this operation is the sheriff’s wife. When this story first broke, she was demoted to a position that paid over $80,000 a year. The state had to take control over the county’s social services until it was “reorganized”.
Who will have to pay for these crimes? The children who were impacted. I will not go over what some had to endure other than to say it was Epstein evil. The taxpayers of Cherokee County who will have to pay much higher property taxes in a recession. The country commissioners, law enforcement and department of social services: not so much.
David DeGerolamo
The carpetbaggers are everywhere, there is no end to them, they come out of the woodwork like the cockroaches they are.
When this Shiat Show blows, it’s going to be Biblical. Feral, State, and even County Govs will dissolve. This society is unsalvageable as currently constituted. Decency is essential, no one is perfect, but common decency and honesty is a prerequisite for admittance to civilization.
I read in the local paper here that a $200k house/property will pay an additional $160/yr. into perpetuity.
The two people in charge the DSS leader and the town attorney, got fired, that’s it. They f’d over the entire county, and got off Scott free, no jail time.
Makes me think of that phone call you got from the Army
And the price of property has skyrocketed here so a 100k house will be reassessed at 200k at a minimum. This will cripple new investment in this county at the worst possible time. Good guys 0, evil 1.
You people clearly have no concept of the living conditions that the children in these types of situations are forced to live in. This is not a good outcome These social workers were doing something that they thought was legal to remove children from dangerous living arrangements. How many of the county’s children have been abused, neglected, addicted to drugs in the womb, and live with permanent mental & physical disability because their parents refuse to get treatment for their addictions? That’s just the most common issue… It’s easy to put your head in the sand about it, you could not even imagine what kind of horrors many of these children have seen. If you saw it with your own eyes, you would do just about anything you physically could to make their lives a little less miserable too (even cut corners with good intention). This was not a case of corrupt officials making lots of money off of a deal gone wrong… It was a case where well-meaning individuals have had their lives upended trying to help others, and the druggies have now learned that they can do whatever to their children and get away with it…and get paid for a legality. Kind of reminds me of whoever sued McDonald’s for receiving hot coffee that got a million dollar payout and made them print an idiot warning on the cup to remind the rest of us how justice has been dragged through the mud. BTW…The majority of law enforcement and department of social services employees make little more than an average Walmart sales associate, and jump through hoops to try make their community a better place.
Cherokee county citizens will have to pay a price far greater than the millions of dollars allotted by the jury in this case and a reduction in investors (blessing in disguise). They will pay with all of the children who will NOT be removed from dangerous living situations because officials are now walking on egg shells. These children learn that deception is an effective way of life and lying, stealing, and illegal activities are required for survival. They may suffer their entire lives in anguish trying to be “normal”, not knowing how. They may be addicted to drugs from the start, which will cause multi-generational genetic, brain and organ abnormalities. They will likely grow up experiencing horrific events that you only see in movies (so you don’t think it’s real) and will be subject to who knows what kind of torturous trauma.What kind of adults do you think they will grow up to be? Instead of worrying about untouchable corrupt officials in DC., one might consider figuring out how to clean up the trash in their own backyard…When things go south, these are the kinds of people coming for you first.
No one said that these children did not need assistance. Blackmail, lack of due process and bypassing the legal framework in place to protect these children was the issue. You did not address that the situation was so bad, the North Carolina state government had to take over the county’s system. You did not address why the social services workers did not follow legal guidelines. You did not address the social services workers losing track of these “rescued” children. You did not address that the people will have to carry a heavy financial burden for their activities. You also did not discuss any federal investigations into this matter.
While you make good points about children needing help, you did not offer any solutions. “It’s for the children” argument is a nationwide problem. Lack of education, attacks on religion and social propaganda have played a part in our societal decay. Like most liberal arguments, your solution is to throw money at the problem to make it go away. That is not the solution; that is source of the problem.
Now, do you want to discuss the sales tax increase to 7% to renovate the schools that are now being abandoned? Or the county’s public transportation money pit? Or why the county commissioners decided to build one new high school for the entire county because the number of students is falling?
I’m not sure it qualifies as blackmail “Sign this piece of paper or we are going to turn up the heat in your lifestyle that is wrought with illegal activity” it’s a tough decision, for sure. What kind of person would even consider signing that? The mother was not willing to clean up her act, and the father refused to protect his child from her. NC came in to cover their own rears…Social services thought they were following legal guidelines…They lost track of these “rescued” kids because there were 100 more piled up on their desk the next morning…Yes. It is unfortunate that the taxpayers will have to pay such a price for an accidental legal oversight, but the lives at risk are far more of a concern…Federal investigation “found the DSS office was understaffed and underfunded,” and that there was “no corrupt intent and no financial incentive,” for Palmer. This is not just a problem in your area, it is endemic to rural American cities all over. How many of the children will be returned to the cesspool of a family from which they came because of this accident? That’s the real shame. They are the real losers in this tragedy. How much of these payouts will inevitably go to lining dealers pockets in the area? Unfortunately, it is likely that most of it will.
You’re right, lack of education, attacks on religion and social propaganda have played a significant part in our societal decay…and it’s likely to get worse before it gets better. I made no reference to throwing any money anywhere…Get your hands dirty…Volunteer for a worthy cause. “Be the change you wish to see in this world” I guarantee you’ll hear stories that you’ll wish you never knew of. The most active resources in rural areas are made possible by private citizens trying to make a difference in their community. The public schools should be abandoned..they are just indoctrination centers anyway… Unfortunately, it is the primary source of food, stability, and hope for almost 20% of most rural areas’ children, who would suffer immensely if they were not available. Sure, go after the corrupt and disconnected local politicians… they should be a much higher priority than some of the higher ups, since they effect one’s daily life in a more prominent way. There’s always more to the story than is reported on the front page, though. There is no way to fix this by throwing money at it.. but if money is going to be spent, it seems that infrastructure to deal with this persistent problem may be useful.
The perspective change was for the purpose of highlighting a need for focus on additional serious local issues that the papers are not reporting in this case, one of which is a major drug problem in rural Appalachia and the massive amount of children that are caught in the cross-hairs. The reality is that most of these kids probably should have been removed, just with judicial oversight…Now, their lives are being dismantled again. There is more to this case than meets the eye, and greater repercussions than inflated taxes. Most of the time, social services aren’t ever called and the children suffer in silence, knowing no other life, thinking this one is normal. When their children are eventually taken away, they just get them right back, and keep doing what they have always done. There are little to no rehabilitation or addiction recovery services available and scant resources for the children of addicted parents. The children’s reality is not generally known by the majority of the population and the abuses sustained in this environment are difficult, if not impossible, to fully recover from.Theoretically, leaving them with family members, as in this case, is more ideal than foster care with strangers (and another bucket of worms). The problem is, these issues are passed down from generation to generation, and become systemic. This is a dangerous cycle that is worth trying to stop through innovative solutions. People will not try to fix a problem that they do not even know exists. The blame should not be placed solely on law enforcement and social workers who are in the trenches drowning from a lack of resources. County commissioners?…Maybe. lol