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September 01, 2004
Social agencies sued in death of Baltimore teen
Tuesday August 31, 2004 -- by The Associated Press
BALTIMORE (AP) - The grandmother of a 15-year-old girl who was starved and beaten to death in 2002 has sued city and state social service agencies for $25 million.
In a related development, the trial of the woman charged in Ciara Jobes' death, set to begin Monday, was postponed until Nov. 19.
Iva Cruse, Ciara's grandmother, filed a complaint Monday alleging that the Maryland Department of Human Resources, the Baltimore Department of Social Services and others were neglectful, and that Ciara's situation had "all the red flags of child abuse."
Also named in the suit is Satrina Roberts, Ciara's former guardian.
Roberts has been charged with first-degree murder and child abuse. Her lawyer, Warren A. Brown, requested the postponement of her trial to await a doctor's evaluation concerning Roberts' mental fitness.
Brown says that Roberts, who has been diagnosed with bipolar schizophrenia disorder, is not criminally responsible for the girl's death.
When Ciara was discovered by police on Roberts' kitchen floor in December 2002, she was emaciated, had wounds across her body and showed signs of violent sexual abuse. She had been locked in a room with no furniture or heat, and was forced to use a hole in a wall for a toilet, police said.
The lawsuit said that Roberts told social services workers that she was unable to handle Ciara, and that she used physical punishment. They "failed to investigate the extent of the physical force used and to remove the child from (Roberts') custody and care," the suit said.
Norris West, spokesman for the Department of Human Resources, which oversees the Department of Social Services, said he could not comment on the pending litigation.
Posted by Nealus at September 1, 2004 10:51 AM
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