By Curtis Johnson
Published: May. 13, 2024 at 7:10 PM EDT
CHARLESTON, W.Va. (WSAZ) - West Virginia Governor Jim Justice says his administration is looking into claims that Child Protective Services knew about a teenage neglect victim who died in Boone County.
WSAZ NewsChannel 3 spoke with Justice on Monday at Pipestem Resort in southern West Virginia
The interview occurred days after WSAZ obtained documents and audio, along with a whistleblower letter, Friday in connection with the Boone County neglect case.
The whistleblower letter details two referrals to CPS involving the teenager, including intake numbers assigned to the cases, along with dates, times and even names of supervisors and workers. WSAZ has chosen to redact those names.
The letter claims the prior reports occurred in 2009 and 2017, listing teen’s name both times in the CPS system.
Also Friday, WSAZ received notes indicating West Virginia State Police conducted a welfare check on the teenager in March 2023, after which the trooper involved filed a referral with CPS. Those notes backed up with audio provided by State Police to WSAZ.
WSAZ NewsChannel 3 reporter Curtis Johnson speaking with Justice on Monday.
“My reaction is really simple,” Justice told Johnson. “That is this -- that they’re working on it. There’s a lot of people working on it. I don’t know, all the the small details of the whole thing. They’ll get to the bottom of it, when they get to the bottom of it and everything, we’ll hold the people responsible, you know, for the if there’s misdeeds and we’ll go from there.”
In a follow-up to the investigation Deadly Details Denied, WSAZ started asking the state questions, but they wouldn’t give us any answers. The state doubled down insisting it had no knowledge of the child.
The entire case stems from the death of a 14-year-old girl in Boone County, where the teenager died after not eating for months. Her body was a skeletal state.
Investigators charged the mother with child neglect resulting in death. She has pleaded not guilty to the charge.
Just days after the teen’s death, the West Virginia Department of Human Services issued a statement on behalf of Child Protective Services, which references state law the agency says requires it to keep reports of abuse and neglect confidential.
A day later, Johnson asked Justice if that statement, meant CPS had a history in that child’s life.
“You know, Curtis, the CPS folks, from what I understand, had no idea about this child, no idea whatsoever,” Justice answered April 23.
WSAZ asked the department to verify the Governor’s comment. Instead, a spokesperson directed Johnson back to the statement and the law on confidentiality.
So, he took a closer look at that state law. There he found one subsection the department left out of its press release.
It states that the department, in case of a child neglect fatality, shall make public information relating to the case. Johnson found that same requirement in federal law.
He also found a manual that interprets the federal statute. It reads, in part, “The intent of this provision was to assure that the public is informed about cases of child abuse or neglect which result in the death or near death of a child.”
That manual even listed minimum information that must be released, including any prior history that CPS had with the child.
So, Johnson submitted a Freedom of Information Act (FOIA) request for any history that CPS had with the Boone County teenager. His request was denied.
Afterwards, Justice arranged an interview with Department of Human Services Secretary Cynthia Persily. WSAZ asked her directly about any history the department may have had with the teen prior to her death.
Johnson: Can you describe what information or interaction your agency had with regards to the 14 year old that’s now deceased in Boone County?
Persily: Yes, we had no interaction. There was no CPS report.
Johnson: Was there any referrals?
Persily: No -- There was no referral, I should say no, I should have said referral, not report.
Johnson: So again, just to clarify, you have no contact with regards to this 14 year old in her lifetime?
Persily: We have no record of contact with this family -- about this particular child.
Johnson: My FOIA seeking information about prior interaction with this kid. You’re saying there was no telephone calls about this kid. There was no referrals about this kid. There was no investigations about this kid. There was nothing with this kids name on it in your agency?
Persily: That’s correct.
A day later, last Thursday, Johnson went back to the Governor.
Johnson: What’s your reaction to her statement?
Justice: First of all, I don’t know it, you know, but, secondly and everything, you know, I’ve got to believe that what she’s telling you is absolutely the truth, and if we find that it’s not the truth, she won’t be in the job any longer because she doesn’t need to be telling anything that’s not the truth.
But Johnson says to remember what Secretary Persily told him.
Johnson: There was nothing with this kids name on it in your agency?
Persily: That’s correct.
This anonymous letter, WSAZ exclusively received Friday, says otherwise.
So Johnson reached out to Secretary Persily’s Department for comment on the information WSAZ uncovered -- once Friday and again Monday, however, the station received no response to its question.
In response to Johnson’s question Monday at Pipestem, Justice said Persily remains employed.
WSAZ also has filed another open records request with CPS, asking for documents related to the State Police referral and the information referenced in the whistleblower letter.
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