Social worker suspended while investigation into abuse case continues
Friday, May 7, 1999 | 3:54 a.m.
Peggy Glock was suspended without pay while the inquiry continues, said Glock's supervisor, Patrick Schiller.
The Washoe County sheriff's office is also investigating whether a detective failed to conduct a proper investigation when the Incline Village 2-year-old was taken to a Lake Tahoe hospital with a broken arm in December.
The child was admitted to the hospital again in February with a broken leg. The mother, Andrea Kathlene Wolfe, 29, was arrested and subsequently indicted by the grand jury on two counts of child abuse causing substantial bodily harm.
Child welfare officials said the caseworker failed to obtain records from Oregon that indicate previous concerns of alleged abuse.
According to court documents, Schiller said social service records from Oregon, where Wolfe lived previously, revealed the child had been removed from his mother 10 days after his birth because she was unable to bond with the baby boy.
"Specifically it indicates that the mother ... essentially was picking the child up by the wrists, pinning the child's legs down to change the diaper, referring to the child as an it, not as a he or she," Schiller said.
Schiller said had he been aware of Wolfe's history in Oregon, her 2-year-old son and a 6-month-old daughter would have been removed from the home after her son's December injury.
Meanwhile, the Washoe County Sheriff's office is conducting an internal investigation into the handling of the case by Detective Dirk Miller.
Assistant Sheriff Jim Lopey said Miller did not obtain hospital records or go to Wolfe's home after the boy's first injury, and then reported to supervisors that the child abuse case was unfounded.
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