Jane Doe Files

 a 2021 incident involving a perpetrator with ties to local law enforcement—referred to as WineCellar—a victim was physically assaulted and choked until she was lifted off the ground, an act witnessed directly by her minor child. Despite the egregious nature of this domestic violence and the documented trauma to the child, the path to justice was obstructed as legal attention shifted away from the physical evidence of strangulation. The court entertained a defense of "consent" or "misunderstanding" for a violent physical assault witnessed by a minor, while CPS reversed its own rulings and released "intensely gross remarks" regarding the victim and her family. Even after WineCellar attested and confirmed he made retaliatory allegations with no evidence, the department’s failure to maintain consistency in its own rulings has completely severed the public trust.

The domestic violence and choking witnessed by this child are indefensible, yet the response from CPS represents an irreconcilable deviation from both the spirit and the letter of the law. To a child, the world is supposed to be a place of predictable gravity, but that laws of physics broke the moment they watched their mother become terrifyingly light in the hands of an aggressor. When violence like this spills from the home and into the halls of justice, the law must act as a shield. Instead, the reprehensible precedent set by this department—ignoring physical evidence and entertaining unfounded defenses—has failed its most basic duty. To restore accountability and prevent further "dire circumstances," we demand the immediate censure, suspension, or removal of the officials responsible. Only through a potential state takeover and a full review of cases involving "retaliatory allegations" can we ensure that the safety of children remains the only priority in Patrick County.