Testimony: Indicted Caseworker Was Warned About Performance

Woman On Trial In Connection With Boy's Death

INDIANAPOLIS -- A former social services caseworker charged in connection with a boy's death was warned that something bad could happen to the kids she served if her work didn't improve, her former supervisor testified Thursday.

The supervisor, Mary Kettery, testified during Denise Moore's trial that the defendant was told in a 1995 job evaluation that her dependability and punctuality were unsatisfactory.

Moore, who worked for the Indiana Family and Social Services Administration, is accused of failing to conduct a criminal history background check when she helped place Anthony Bars and his twin sister with adoptive parents.

Anthony was 4 when he died in January 2002 of dehydration while in the care of L.B. and Latricia Bars, authorities said. A medical examiner said the boy also had suffered head injuries and a broken collarbone.

Prosecutors have argued that a background check would have found at least two previous cases of substantiated abuse in the Bars' home.

Police said Moore lied about conducting the check. She was charged in February 2004 of neglect and obstruction of justice. Her trial on those charges began this week.

Kettery testified Thursday that Moore, who was hired in 1993, received a positive job evaluation before the critical one in 1995.

Moore's attorney, Jack Crawford, said putting responsibility for the boy's death on one caseworker was unfair.

"This was a tragedy, and the responsibility for that tragedy lays with several different persons through the entire chain of command," he said outside the courtroom Thursday.

Deputy Prosecutor Ellen Corcella said that Moore's failure to conduct a background check amounted to neglect.

"We believe that the defendant neglected her two dependents ... and that she lied to the probate court," Corcella said. "That's our theme, and it's just about this defendant and this case."

A judge in 2003 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 were placed in other homes.