The civil lawsuit filed late last week on behalf of Arabella McCormack's two surviving sisters alleges an alarming network of failures to report and investigate child abuse. According to NBC San Diego, institutions named in the lawsuit include San Diego Police Department (SDPD), San Diego Fire Rescue Department (SDFD), Rock Church, San Diego County Child Welfare Services, and more.
Young Arabella's short life was marked by severe suffering: prosecutors revealed last year that she died from heart failure caused by malnutrition and abuse. The revelations from the recent lawsuit expose a chilling tapestry of alleged negligence among multiple individuals, organizations, and their associated employees who were responsible for the welfare of Arabella and her sisters.
The lawsuit suggests that SDPD Officer Lawanda Fisher not only failed in her duty as a mandated reporter to report child abuse and neglect, but also personally contributed to the abuse by providing wooden paddles to the McCormack family to use on the girls, as stated by NBC San Diego. Fisher has not responded to requests for comment, and SDPD refuses to comment on pending litigation.
CBS 8 provided the following snippet of the complaint, "Rather than report the girls' neglected and abused condition to the authorities as required by law, [the officer] provided Ms. McCormack with a wood paddle to strike and inflict pain on the girls. When the first wood paddle broke, [the officer] provided Ms. McCormack with two more paddles. [The officer] did not merely fail to report the neglect and abuse, she became complicit in and aided and abetted it when [they] provided the paddles."
Additionally, the lawsuit targets SDFD Chaplain Kevin Johnstone, alleging that he too failed in his duty as a mandated reporter, even after visiting the family home and witnessing the girls' emaciated state, according to CBS 8. So far, Johnstone has declined to comment, and the City Attorney's office also prefers not to comment on the ongoing case.
Further allegations involve members of the Rock Church, where Arabella's adoptive mother, Leticia McCormack, served as an ordained youth ministry leader. The lawsuit claims that multiple church members, including Johnstone who also worked as a Child Abuse Investigator and Safety Operations Manager for the church, were aware of the abuse but failed to report it. Rock Church has declined to comment, as reported by NBC San Diego.
Beyond church and law enforcement circles, the lawsuit accuses San Diego County Child Welfare Services – now known as Child & Family Well-Being – of systemic failures to properly investigate earlier reports of child abuse and neglect dating back to 2018, per NBC San Diego. The lawsuit alleges that social worker Shara Freeman and her supervisor, Dennis Leggett, failed to execute their duties as mandated reporters, leading to unresolved abuse complaints.
Alarmingly, the lawsuit also implicates Pacific Coast Academy, shared by NBC San Diego, where the abused sisters were homeschooled. Teachers from the academy who saw the girls on a monthly basis face accusations of neglecting their responsibilities as mandated reporters.
Considering the deeply concerning web of negligence, it is heart-wrenching to think about how differently Arabella's story might have played out if just one of those individuals or organizations had acted sooner. In the end, Arabella's adoptive father Brian McCormack committed suicide on the same day of her death, and her adoptive mother and grandparents now face charges of murder, torture, and child abuse in connection with the tragic case.
