Caseworker Charged In Connection With Boy's Death

Woman Helped Place Boy In Home Where He Died

INDIANAPOLIS -- A caseworker who helped place a boy with adoptive parents who later were convicted of neglect in his death has been charged with official misconduct.

Marion County Prosecutor Carl Brizzi filed the charges Thursday against Denise Moore, a caseworker with the state Family and Social Services Administration, one week after her supervisors declined to take disciplinary action.

Baker appeared in court Friday for an initial hearing.

Moore, 42, was charged with two counts of official misconduct and one count of transmitting false information in an adoption proceeding. The charges are misdemeanors.

Reports by Moore in 1999 led a court to place Anthony Bars and his twin sister with distant relatives, L.B. and Latricia Bars.

A judge last month sentenced Latricia Bars to 13 years in prison and L.B. Bars to eight years for child neglect. Anthony's sister and the couple's other children have been placed in other homes.

An autopsy after Anthony's Jan. 19, 2002 death showed he died of dehydration. A medical examiner also found the 4-year-old boy had head injuries and a broken collarbone.

The couple told police the child had fallen down a flight of stairs the day before. Authorities said the couple did not take the child to a hospital until he already was dead.

Brizzi said a background check would have found at least two other cases of substantiated abuse in the Bars home. A background check also would have found that L.B. Bars had a prior felony battery conviction for whipping his daughter with an extension cord, the prosecutor said.

He said Moore told the court she had found no criminal record for the couple in Indiana and that they had not had any previous contact with the welfare agency.

"Make no mistake, Latricia and L.B. Bars killed this little boy," Brizzi said. "There was a series of missteps. The law required a background check to be done prior to adoption. It wasn't done."

FSSA officials released an official statement saying "If laws were broken, particulary if they resulted in the death of a little boy, we hope that justice is swift and appropriate."

Moore was suspended without pay pending the results of the investigation. She was expected to turn herself in Friday, RTV6 reported.

The agency has come under heavy criticism in recent months for its handling of child neglect cases.

A Madison County grand jury last year indicted a Child Protective Services caseworker on felony neglect charges, alleging that he failed to adequately protect a disabled 8-year-old Elwood boy who died of pneumonia.

The agency also drew criticism this week when officials said two Gary children who died in a fire earlier this week were allowed to remain in the home by a caseworker investigating allegations of neglect.