"The system didn't work." Onondaga Co. Exec. says CPS fell short in Camillus abuse case

The Onondaga County Executive believes "the system did not work", confirming that county CPS investigated at least one claim of abuse against Susan Orendorf before her eventual arrest this September.

"In my opinion, we're dealing with a sociopath," said McMahon, "who certainly the system in general failed."

Orendorf faces multiple felony charges after police determined she had been violently abusing her son since at least 2017. Arrest records show Orendorf had malnourished her son to the point where he was 20 pounds underweight.

Community members, including a waitress and a daycare provider, had told CNY Central they tried multiple times to get CPS involved as early as 2018 after noticing signs that Orendorf was abusing her son.

The abuse appeared to escalate in the summer of 2022, with Orendorf allegedly chaining the 11 year old to a bed and pulling his genitals as a form of punishment. On September 4th, police say she strangled him to the point where he blacked out. It was only a few days later that the boy was actually removed from the home, after a school resource officer intervened.

Orendorf has pleaded not guilty to all charges.

"The stories that came out after that, of what she did to him this summer, was really hard to take knowing it could have been prevented," said Karen Sweeny, the director of Partners in Parenting daycare in Camillus. Sweeney said that the 11 year old victim was enrolled in her day care in 2021, and they did everything they could have done to get him help by going through the proper channels in Child Protective Services.

"We all noticed, and we all tried to help," said Sweeney.

Early on in the Onondaga County District Attorney's criminal investigation into Orendorf, the DA requested any and all CPS documents from Onondaga County related to Orendorf. McMahon said at the conclusion of the DA's investigation, he'll announce next steps on how to address the shortcomings McMahon believes were present in CPS investigations into the Orendorf household.

"Right now, our opinion is the system did not work the way it needed to work," said McMahon.

The State Office of Children and Family Services is also investigating instances in which Onondaga County CPS responded to abuse allegations against Orendorf in the past. This comes after CNY Central obtained a document from OCFS, showing the state agency had given high marks to Onondaga County CPS for drawing conclusions in abuse cases in 2021.

An OCFS spokesperson declined to comment on the current investigation.