ADAMS COUNTY, Pa. — Three Adams County Children and Youth Services (ACCYS) employees are facing criminal charges in connection to the May 2020 death of a 15-month-old child.
Iris Mae Mummert was 15 months old when her mother, 29-year-old Felisha Ellis, became frustrated and upset and shook her repeatedly, ultimately causing her death, according to court documents.
"Iris's murder was very likely avoidable," Brian Sinnett, the Adams County District Attorney, said at a news conference on Tuesday.
Steven Murphy, 63, of Dillsburg; Clarissa Kiessling, 44, of Hanover; and Sherri DePasqua, 46, of Dillsburg, are each charged with two counts of endangering the welfare of children.
Murphy was the CYS employee assigned to oversee Mummert's case. Kiessling was a CYS supervisor who oversaw Murphy and DePasqua was an assistant CYS administrator who oversaw both of them.
The charges come following a statewide grand jury investigation. The grand jury was presented with the case on June 29 of this year.
For the entirety of Iris's short life, she and her older sister were known to Adams County CYS.
Iris was born at just 27 weeks with cocaine, opiates, and THC in her system. As a result, a general protective services referral was made.
In February of 2019, the agency took custody of the girls and placed them with foster parents.
According to court documents, those foster parents, one of whom has career experience working in Children and Youth Services, repeatedly raised concerns surrounding Ellis and her ability to properly care for her children.
Those concerns included "perceived limited cognitive functioning, anxiety, possible domestic abuse, an inability to manage both children at the same time without assistance, difficulty in maintaining a schedule of visits and appointments, and frequently missed or tardy appearances at medical appointments," according to a grand jury presentment.
"As a professional in this field, I have tried to look at the reunification efforts diplomatically and fair, but have struggled to describe this work as anything else but shallow and mediocre, setting these children up for failure and to return to care," the foster parent wrote in 2019 to ACCYS.
Other service providers also expressed concerns about Ellis to ACCYS.
Pennsylvania State Police and the DA said Tuesday those concerns were repeatedly minimized and ignored.
“These concerns were addressed to CYS, they were made aware of not just one thing, not one missed appointment, not one failed drug test," said Sinnett. "It was over and over and over again.”
Investigators say the trio failed to provide the family with adequate support and supervision while the child was in the care of Adams County CYS, including ignoring numerous notifications, concerns, requests and recommendations from various professional service providers that were also involved with the family for over a years time.
Despite the concerns presented by multiple professionals, Ellis was reunified with her children on Feb. 27, 2020, at the recommendation of Murphy and Kiessling, according to court documents.
ACCYS reportedly continued to receive troubling information about Ellis after the reunification process.
According to court documents, on May 21, 2020, a general protective referral form from ChildLine was submitted by an anonymous source, who claimed they were at a party with Ellis and her children. The witness claimed Ellis was drinking clear alcohol and became intoxicated and belligerent, later throwing up and eventually passing out.
Due to the report, an after-hours caseworker responded to Ellis's house and reported that the children appeared safe. Ellis was not drug tested.
According to court documents, Murphy, Kiessling and Depasqua never attempted to verify through witness interviews, other than Ellis, whether the allegations contained in the referral were valid.
Several days later, on May 29, Ellis shook Iris repeatedly and initially told investigators she dropped her, according to court documents. Iris was flown to Hershey Medical Center where doctors said she had numerous, very specific injuries that were not consistent with a simple fall. She passed away on May 31.
Ellis later admitted that she inflicted the injuries on Iris and had used marijuana, alcohol, Percocet and Suboxone the night before the killing.
Felisha Ellis, Iris's mother, was convicted in October 2021. She pled guilty to murder of the third degree and is serving her 12-to-30-year sentence in State Prison.
“There was a lack of vigilance on the part of one of the entities we trust to supervise our children and trust to relay to the court concerns about children and reunification and they failed in this particular case," Sinnett said at Tuesday's news conference.
According to Sinnett, Steven Murphy resigned from his caseworker position on July 14, 2023.
Keissling and DePasqua remained employed up until Tuesday when they were placed on administrative leave pending the outcome of criminal proceedings.
“They’re ultimately going to have to answer the question as to why they didn’t do what they were supposed to do but we can prove definitively that they didn’t do what they were supposed to do," said Sinnett.
The Adams County Board of Commissioners released the following statement on Tuesday afternoon:
"The Adams County Board of Commissioners learned that (2) employees of the County’s Children & Youth Services (CYS) agency were charged this morning with felony counts of child endangerment. These charges follow the empanelment of a statewide grand jury that was convened at the request of the Adams County District Attorney to investigate the circumstances surrounding the death of a 15-month-old minor child at the hands of the child’s biological mother.
The decedent’s family received support services through the agency, and the decedent and her sibling had been the subject of dependency proceedings in the Adams County Court of Common Pleas, prior to the child’s death in May of 2020. The Board was deeply saddened by the death of this child, when it was learned that she had passed away from injuries sustained at the hands of her mother.
Two of the core tenets of the Adams County Children & Youth Services agency are the protection of children and the provision of resources to families in need of support services. In this instance, the agency delivered support services to the biological mother and father during the time that the couple’s minor children were placed in foster care, during the dependency court proceedings, and at the time of court-ordered reunification.
At this time, the agency will continue its mission to protect children and provide resources to families in need. 'We ask the public to keep in mind that these staff members are entitled to a presumption of innocence and that a grand jury does not necessarily see exculpatory evidence or hear the other side of the story during its deliberations,' said County Solicitor Molly Mudd. The County respects the judicial process and will withhold judgment until all of the facts have been developed in open court and both sides have been heard. Pending the outcome of the criminal proceedings, the CYS staff have been placed on administrative leave.
All three former ACCYS workers have a tentative preliminary hearing on August 9.