Madera County DA investigating ex-CPS employee who allegedly discarded abuse reports
Madera County prosecutors are reviewing a case against a former social worker accused of discarding hundreds of child abuse reports in 2019, District Attorney Sally Moreno has confirmed.
Moreno said it’s too early to know whether any criminal charges will be filed against Sierra Lindman, the former social worker whose employment in Madera County ended in early November after department supervisors discovered the issue.
Madera County sheriff’s investigators sent the case to prosecutors June 15 and added more information to the file later last week, Moreno said. She declined to elaborate on any specifics, including any charges requested by detectives.
Lindman has not been arrested in connection with the case, Moreno confirmed. She said it was possible that prosecutors could file charges in the case without making any arrests.
“Generally, when a case comes to us the way this one has, there aren’t arrests. What generally will happen is if we decide to file charges, either felony or misdemeanor, we’ll send the defendant a letter requesting that they show up in court unless there’s some reason to do something different,” she said.
The Bee confirmed Lindman’s identity as the social worker in question in a story published this month.
According to Moreno, in addition to possible criminal allegations, prosecutors are looking into potential violations of “business and profession” codes that public employees are required to follow.
Moreno described the case as “kind of complicated.”
“It’s not your regular charges,” Moreno said. “We are talking about not fulfilling an obligation or a duty.”
Lengthy investigation
Allegations against Lindman surfaced within the department in November 2019, according to internal government emails obtained by The Bee. Her employment ended, and the Sheriff’s Office launched a criminal investigation, officials have said.
Deputies have been tight-lipped about the case.
Last week, Sheriff’s Office Public Information Officer Sarah Jackson asked The Bee to submit questions about the case via email, but never responded with answers and did not acknowledge multiple follow-up attempts late last week and on Monday.
Details of the allegations came to light in March when The Bee published an investigation into the matter based on multiple interviews and dozens of government emails obtained through a public records request.
According to the emails, at least 357 child abuse and neglect reports might have been abandoned for up to two months in the fall of 2019. In one email, Deborah Martinez, director of the Madera County Department of Social Services, wrote that the social worker’s action had “placed children in danger.”
Lindman was placed on leave on Nov. 7, a day after Martinez learned of the allegations, the emails shows.
Dozens of the neglected cases involved reports of physical or sexual abuse that came in through the county’s child abuse hotline. Some of the referrals were found around the employee’s desk, and others were discovered in special locked wastebaskets, typically used for shredded documents, according to the emails and employee interviews.
This story was originally published June 22, 2020 at 4:16 PM.
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