Lawyers sue DSS over Cherokee girl’s death

CHARLOTTE, N.C. (AP) – Swain County social workers knew that a 15-month-old girl’s life was in danger but failed to take action on complaints that could have prevented her death, according to a lawsuit filed Wednesday in a North Carolina court.

“We’re trying to find out who was responsible,” David Wijewickrama, a lawyer on behalf of Aubrey Kina-Marie Littlejohn’s estate told The Associated Press. “And once we do that, we want to hold those people accountable for their actions.”

This is the second complaint filed by Wijewickrama in connection with Aubrey’s Jan. 10, 2011 death. The earlier one was filed in February with the North Carolina Industrial Commission, which handles wrongful death claims involving state agencies. That case is pending.

The new complaint filed in Swain County Superior Court names the county DSS as a defendant along with seven current and former social workers, including the former head of the agency, Tammy Cagle.

The lawsuit asks for more than $10,000 in damages. It also accuses Swain County of not doing enough to protect Native American children. Aubrey was a member of the Eastern Band of Cherokee Indians, which has a reservation in the rural western North Carolina county.     



“The failure to properly investigate and act on complaints of abuse and neglect of Aubrey...represents a systemic failure of the Swain County DSS to fulfill its legal obligations with respect to children” who are Cherokee, the lawsuit said.

Calls to Swain County DSS were not immediately returned Wednesday.

According to the lawsuit, there were three separate reports that Aubrey was being abused by her great aunt, LadyBird Powell, between September and November 2010. One time, a family member reported that Powell had disciplined the toddler by “smacking her in the mouth.”

But social workers ignored the complaints and continued to allow Aubrey to live with Powell. Aubrey died the following January after being taken to a nearby hospital.

Powell was arrested and charged with second-degree murder in January 2012 – a year after the toddler’s death.     



An Associated Press investigation found that police and social workers had been aware of reports Aubrey was being mistreated while she was staying with Powell. Two months before Aubrey died, authorities removed a different child from Powell’s home because of unsafe conditions, but left Aubrey behind.

Two Swain County social service workers have been charged with falsifying records and indicted on obstruction of justice charges in Aubrey’s death. They are accused of falsifying records to make it appear as though the department had done a thorough investigation into allegations that Aubrey was being abused.

Wijewickrama said he doesn’t want to do anything to obstruct the criminal cases pending Powell or the social workers.

“But evidence based on the warrants show that some employees have engaged in bad behavior,” he said. “And we want to find out how high up the food chain that goes.”

The case stunned the community. Aubrey’s family, including the girl’s mother, Jasmine Littlejohn, pushed for justice. They wondered why it took so long for someone to be charged.

Littlejohn had asked Powell to take care of Aubrey before she reported to jail in April 2010 to await trial in a marijuana trafficking case. She was in jail when her daughter died.

According to the lawsuit, Powell “willfully neglected and abused” Aubrey. On the day she died. Powell left the toddler in a car seat for 12 hours “during which time she was not cared for or monitored, was not fed, was not given proper hydration.”