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PA: Erie Co., CYS failure-Busy chasin' spankings?
Some have said that CPS goes after the easier clients---for example, middle or
upper class families with children who MIGHT HAVE BEEN SPANKED. While they ignore serious cases presented to them by officials. Subject: Adoptive mother blames teen's injuries on housemate From: (LilMtnCbn) Date: 6/14/2004 10:35 AM Eastern Daylight Time Message-id: http://www.timesleader.com/mld/timesleader/8914936.htm Adoptive mother blames teen's injuries on housemate Associated Press ERIE, Pa. - A woman accused of abusing her adopted daughter before the teenager's sudden death has blamed a housemate for the hundreds of bruises that covered the girl's body. Lisa M. Iarussi blamed Linda Fisher and a bike accident for the 200 bruises and scarred head, lip and ear that the Erie County coroner discovered during his autopsy of 15-year-old Brittany Legler, who died May 9. Iarussi said Fisher suffocated Legler during a wrestling match. Iarussi, who adopted Legler on Jan. 1, 2001, was charged with aggravated assault and child endangerment. Police allege Iarussi beat the teenager for months before her death. Investigators are also considering whether a congenital heart defect contributed to Legler's death. Family members said two of Legler's cousins had the ailment. In a telephone interview from the Erie County Prison, Iarussi, 35, told the Erie Times-News that she used physical punishment to discipline Legler, but never hit her with her fist. The teenager also easily bruised because she was anemic, Iarussi said. Fisher, who lived with Iarussi for two years, denied the accusations against her. She said Iarussi beat her and Legler with a hairbrush and forced them to wrestle on the day the teenager died. Iarussi adopted Legler from a childhood friend, Rosa Pollard, after child-welfare officials told the teenager's biological mother that she couldn't raise her six children on her own, Pollard said. Two of Pollard's children went to live with relatives and Legler went to live with Iarussi, Pollard said. After the adoption, Iarussi didn't allow the teen to see her family, Pollard said. "It was like she never wanted us to be in Brittany's life," Pollard said. According to prosecutors, school officials and court documents, Millcreek Township school officials made numerous reports of suspected abuse to police. Erie County's Office of Children and Youth has asked an emergency review team to investigate the agency's handling of Legler's case. But because of confidentiality laws, the case won't be made public unless the state Department of Public Welfare orders the county agency to undergo "corrective action," a department spokeswoman said. Iarussi's preliminary hearing has been scheduled for June 23. ------------------------- A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!" -----Unknown |
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