City, county to pay $10 million each in large settlement following Spring Valley girl’s death

Arabella McCormack File photo courtesy of San Diego County Sheriff s Department The city and county of San Diego along with two private entities have agreed to legal settlements totaling more than million in the death of an -year-old Spring Valley girl The settlements resolve a lawsuit brought on behalf of Arabella McCormack s two younger sisters All three girls were allegedly abused by their adoptive parents and grandparents The in recent months approved amounts include million each from the city and county along with million from Pacific Coast Academy a homeschool scheme and million from Rock Church where the girls adoptive mother volunteered Law enforcement responded to the McCormack home on Aug to find Arabella unresponsive She died at a hospital later that day The lawsuit alleges that at the time of Arabella s death she was badly undernourished weighing only pounds and had sustained fractured bones and other injuries Her sisters who were and years old at the time were also severely malnourished neglected and abused according to the lawsuit but have since received rehabilitation that saved their lives The girls adoptive mother Leticia Diane McCormack and McCormack s parents Adella and Stanley Tom face criminal charges that include murder and torture They remain jailed without bail and face multiple life terms if convicted Prosecutors also allege McCormack s husband Brian McCormack who killed himself as sheriff s deputies sought to speak with him was involved with the abuse The girls came into the McCormacks care in and were later adopted According to prosecutors and the lawsuit the girls caretakers physically abused the children by beating them with paddles and sticks withheld food and kept them isolated to their bedrooms They were also not allowed to have friends and were not allowed to use the bathroom prosecutors alleged The lawsuit states that Leticia McCormack and her parents volunteered with the San Diego Police Department and an officer was aware the girls were neglected and abused The officer Lawanda Fisher allegedly gave Leticia McCormack a pair of wooden paddles that she knew would be used to strike the girls The lawsuit accuses the officer of failing to review the abuse and makes similar asserts against county child welfare services employees teachers with Pacific Coast Academy and members of Rock Church While child welfare employees received abuse complaints from Arabella s elementary school an agent interviewed Arabella twice in front of the McCormacks then closed the scenario the lawsuit states Pacific Coast Academy teachers and mandated reporters associated with Rock Church also witnessed the malnourished conditions of the children but made no reports of suspected abuse according to the lawsuit