Four adoptive children named as victims in child abuse cases filed against a longtime Cochise County employee and a state welfare manager have filed a $16 million notice of claim against several parties, including the Arizona Department of Child Safety (DCS) and a Cochise County sheriff’s sergeant who purportedly told another deputy not to talk about an abuse allegation against their co-worker.
Brian and Monica Campbell are charged with committing several felony child abuse offenses against four children placed in their Elfrida home as foster children and then adopted by the couple. An adult daughter is also charged in connection to the alleged abuse.
The three defendants are slated to be back in court Sept. 22 for what is expected to be a trial setting hearing. In the meantime, the parents are named in a notice of claim served this week against them, the State of Arizona, the Arizona Department of Economic Security, Cochise County, the Cochise County Sheriff’s Office (CCSO), Sheriff Mark Dannels, and CCSO Sgt. Louie Tartaglia.
A notice of claim must be served against a public body at least 60 days before a lawsuit can be filed in state court. It must contain “sufficient details” of the alleged wrongdoing as well as a specific monetary demand by which the claim can be settled without further legal action.
A claim is considered denied if no response is filed within 60 days, and the parties are not required to formally answer the claim. Statements and allegations contained in a notice of claim do not have to meet the higher threshold of prevailing in a lawsuit.
According to the teens’ claim, they were subjected to aggravated assault, sexual abuse, battery, defamation, and intentional infliction of emotional distress during their time in the Campbell home. They also allege DCS and CCSO is liable for negligent retention and supervision of employees.
The four teens “want to change the way the State, DCS, Cochise County, and the CCSO operate,” according to Lynne Cadigan, a Tucson-based victim’s rights attorney “They want to send a message to those responsible parties who were charged in protecting the children in their care.”
To that end, the claim demands $4 million for each of the four children.
Court records show Brian Campbell was arrested in 2018 for using a Taser on one of his teenaged sons in an incident recorded on a surveillance system inside the family home. A CCSO deputy had responded to the home in response to a report that the boy was “out of control” and abusive.
But after viewing the video, the deputy also charged the father, who at the time was a DCS case manager in Cochise County. His wife, Monica Campbell, was a CCSO dispatch supervisor.
The Campbells would eventually be charged by prosecutor Michael Powell of the Cochise County Attorney’s Office in connection with multiple alleged acts of child abuse involving four of their adopted children. The couple is expected to stand trial next year; their daughter Jade Campbell is also charged in the Taser incident.
Calling the Campbell home “a house of horrors,” the claim alleges Brian and Monica Campbell took “immense delight in demonstrating to the Children the power they both wielded as government agents” who could abuse the children “with absolutely no repercussions.”
The claim also points to a possible motive for the parents’ actions – the $700 of state funds they received per month per child due to the children’s alleged special needs.
“Brian and Monica Campbell told the State that the Children had mental disorders and other special needs, when in fact such problems were caused by the years of physical, sexual, emotional, and psychological torment the Children were subjected to at the hands of their parents,” the claim states.
In April 2020, the Campbells had their parental rights severed in an uncontested court action.
DCS was not only negligent in placing the children in the Campbell home and letting the couple adopt them, the claim states, but state workers -including Brian Campbell himself- were further negligent by leaving the children in the Campbell home despite more than a dozen reports of abuse, neglect, or mistreatment.
“Children take from problem homes are the most vulnerable children in the State,” the claim states. “The failure of the State to protect the children in its care has been well documented in the reports commissioned by the State.”
In addition to demanding payment from state parties, the notice of claim also alleges CCSO “deliberately and routinely” failed to assign proper personnel to investigate abuse reports or adequately preserve records and other evidence. It also alleges CCSO Sgt. Tartaglia dismissed a deputy from an abuse investigation involving Monica Campbell and ordered the deputy to remain silent about the matter.
Tartaglia either handled or was aware of several calls for service involving the children, according to the claim.
Arizona Daily Independent reviewed more than a dozen reports generated by deputies for interactions with the Campbells or the children prior to July 2018. Several reports mention allegations of abuse or mistreatment, but the review also revealed the children sometimes recanted their statements after being questioned by deputies.
Sheriff Dannels has previously stated he was not aware of abuse allegations involving the Campbells nor of any issues with how his deputies responded to those allegations.
Monica Campbell was placed on paid leave shortly after an indepth investigation was opened in response to the July 2018 Taser incident. She resigned from the county in March 2020.
Cadigan was approved last year by Cochise County’s presiding judge to serve in the criminal cases as the victim representative for the four Campbell children. She is handling the notice of claim along with BurgSimpson, a law firm specializing in personal injury claims in six states.
The Arizona Attorney General will handle the claim on behalf of all named state parties. The Cochise County parties will be advised by an attorney for the Arizona Counties Insurance Pool.