Franklin – The last trial court case from Cherokee County Department of Social Services’ illegal handling of about two dozen child custody cases concluded much as it began – with a guilty verdict.
A five-woman, seven-man jury decided on May 13 that former DSS lawyer Ronnie Scott Lindsay illegally used so-called custody and visitation agreements to violate parents’ constitutional rights by arranging custody and sidestepping the court system set up to handle such cases.
Another time Cherokee County’s DSS case went before a jury was in 2022, when Brian Hogan and his daughter were awarded $4.6 million, plus court costs and attorney fees approaching $2 million.
Hogan’s wife was gravely ill when he left his daughter with a neighbor while he stayed by his wife’s side at an Asheville hospital. The school reported that the daughter smelled bad. Child Protective Services got involved and imposed a custody and visitation agreement, or CVA.
Cherokee County lost the ensuing federal lawsuit along with three other similar cases – the Hogans’ $4.6 million, one for $4 million, one for $450,000 and one for $250,000 – before it settled remaining cases for an additional $42 million. Insurance covered half, with the remainder being paid by taxpayers.
Many of the affected parents and children testified during Lindsay’s two-week trial in the Macon County Courthouse.
The jury believed prosecutors and witnesses who said parents were coerced, misled and threatened by DSS officials to sign the agreements without being informed that they had a right to be heard by a judge and be represented by a state-appointed lawyer.
The cases occurred between 2014 and 2017. A state Department of Health & Human Resources audit revealed a backlog of cases at Cherokee County DSS and pressure to clear backlogged cases. Cherokee County DSS lost a couple of custody cases in court, and use of CVAs became more widespread among “stuck cases” to get DSS’ caseload under control.
CVA forms provided an opportunity for DSS to clear cases and save money. They avoid court costs and legal fees, and forego resources that children are entitled to when they are placed in foster care by the courts.
The forms were implied to be legally enforceable but excluded DSS officials’ signatures other than being notarized (some signatures weren’t notarized, while others were notarized without the notary witnessing the signature). Completed forms were stored in a basement, and the one time when a social worker tried to file a form with the clerk of court it was rejected.
The pitch was simple and effective – sign the agreement and place the child with someone you know, or the county will place your children in foster care with someone you don’t know and risk never seeing them again.
Hidden in plain sight was the crux – the signed agreements gave away parental rights until the child turned 18 or was emancipated. In short, the parents were manipulated into what they feared most – losing their children for the remainder of their childhood.
Many of the parents were involved with drugs, but not all. One parent was involved because she was working too many hours. Another, Hogan, was standing vigil with his gravely ill wife.
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At least one parent is illiterate and did not know what he was signing. One is a police officer and didn’t realize until they testified in court and saw their CVA for the first time since signing it that it took custody from them permanently. One is a school teacher.
Among the children, one was placed in the custody of their mother’s drug supplier. Two sisters were left to fend for themselves with no functioning custody arrangement. One infant taken shortly after delivery has not seen their parents since then – even now.
Children had trouble enrolling in school and obtaining driver’s licenses because outside agencies didn’t recognize CVAs as legal documents.
Once a CVA was signed, DSS closed the case and put no further resources into it. No one from DSS checked to see how the kids were doing.
Lindsay was the third Cherokee County DSS official to be convicted, but the only criminal case that went before a jury. Former DSS director Cindy Palmer and Child Protective Services supervisor David Hughes made plea agreements with the Attorney General’s Office, which prosecuted the cases, with Hughes agreeing to testify as part of his plea agreement.
Lindsay said the only choice the attorney general gave him was to seek a jury trial or spend 20 years in prison.
All three received similar sentences – about a year in prison suspended, unsupervised probation, plus court costs.
The SBI completed its investigation in April 2019, when it was handed over to District Attorney Ashley Welch’s office.
The N.C. Attorney General’s Office took the three criminal cases after Welch recused herself because of a conflict of interest – Cindy Palmer is the wife of Derrick Palmer, who was Cherokee County sheriff at the time.
Attorney General Josh Stein sent his A team – Special Deputy Attorney General Benjamin “Boz” Zellinger, head of Stein’s Special Prosecution Section, and Special Deputy Attorney General Arneatha James.
Murphy-based lawyer Jerry Townson, who represented Lindsay, said his client may have created the template used to create CVAs, but it was Palmer and Hughes who were in the “chain of command” that led to CVAs being used. While Lindsay may not have been driving, he provided the map and turn-by-turn directions.