NC legislators want criminal probe into DSS workers over Charlotte child’s death
North Carolina legislators want Mecklenburg’s district attorney to conduct criminal investigations into county social services employees involved with a Charlotte 6-year-old found dead last year.
There is precedent for such cases in North Carolina, though one expert said it’s unclear how a criminal case might hold up against a public official accused of neglect rather than corruption.
Leadership of the state House Oversight Committee sent a letter to Mecklenburg County District Attorney Spencer Merriweather Monday calling on Merriweather’s office “to conduct a criminal review” of county social services employees involved with Dominique Moody or her household, according to a copy of the letter shared on social media by committee co-Chair Brenden Jones. The Oversight Committee held a hearing on Moody’s case June 4, where members floated the possibility of charges against county social services staff.
Moody was found dead in December at her aunt’s home in east Charlotte showing signs of abuse and malnourishment.
“We respectfully ask that your office determine whether the public employees and officials who failed Dominique Moody broke the law while she was left to suffer and die,” the letter to Merriweather said.
Merriweather said in a statement his office is looking into the request.
Dominique Moody case
Court records show Moody weighed 27 pounds when she died and had injuries including burn scars, rib fractures and wounds from “prolonged sitting in urine/feces-soiled items, such as a diaper, for extensive periods of time.”
The 6-year-old’s aunt and two other people face charges including first-degree murder.
The Charlotte Observer and other news outlets reported police and social services received reports about Moody’s home before she died.
Her death sparked a review of Mecklenburg County social services by the North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services. DHHS ordered the county to put together a corrective action plan based on its findings, telling Mecklenburg in a letter it found “a broad, systemic lack of appropriate safety planning to address identified danger indicators and risk factors to the children.”
County Manager Mike Bryant told the Oversight Committee at its June hearing 12 county employees were disciplined following Moody’s death, including the termination of a “senior social service manager” and resignation of a social worker supervisor.
During the Oversight Committee hearing, multiple committee members criticized local leadership for what they said was a lack of accountability for Moody’s death.
“There should be people held to account, and I believe there are people at that table that should be held to account for the criminal neglect that has been shown in this case and other cases,” state Rep. Allen Chesser said as county leadership sat before him.
Legislators want ‘criminal review’ of Mecklenburg DSS employees
In their letter, Oversight Committee leadership said the district attorney’s office should look for potential violations of multiple state statutes, including:
- General Statute 7B-301, which outlines people and institutions’ duty to report abuse, neglect, dependency or death due to maltreatment
- General Statute 7B-307, which outlines the duty of the director of social services to report evidence of abuse or neglect to the district attorney and local law enforcement
- General Statute 14-318.6, which outlines the penalties for failing to report crimes against juveniles
- General Statute 14-230, which outlines the penalties for government officials “willfully failing” to discharge their duties
General Statute 14-230 “clearly applies when a public official corruptly turns the other way and fails to do his or her job,” said Jeff Welty, a professor of Public Law and Government at the UNC School of Government. But, “it is less clear whether it applies when a public official fails to do his or her job due to simple neglect,” Welty told the Observer.
There’s also a question of whom the statute covers, he added. Most reported cases using General Statute 14-230 involve police officers, Welty said. A case was brought against an employee of a state school for the blind, he noted, but “the court ruled that the defendant was not an official of a state institution because he did not have much discretion or policy-making authority.”
“A front-line county DSS employee might argue that he or she does not qualify as an official under the statute,” Welty said.
Someone who failed to properly handle a child welfare case or claim could also face an obstruction of justice charge, Welty added.
“That concept is very elastic. It could potentially reach someone who intentionally acts in a way that prevents the courts from addressing an issue,” he said.
Will Mecklenburg DA pursue charges?
In his statement, Merriweather said that “while District Attorney’s Offices in North Carolina are not vested with investigative authority under state law,” his office was “aware” of Jones’ letter, the state DHHS report and local officials’ testimony before the Oversight Committee.
“We are reviewing available materials to determine what — if any – legally appropriate actions should follow,” he said.
Merriweather’s statement added that his office has already charged three people in connection with Moody’s death.
“As such, this Office will have no further comment on this or any related matter,” the statement said.
Past charges against DSS employees in NC
It’s not unheard of for social services employees to face criminal charges for misconduct, Welty said, pointing to past cases in Union and Cherokee counties. Though, the circumstances of those cases were different than Moody’s.
A Union County social services supervisor, Wanda Larson, was arrested alongside her boyfriend in 2013 when an 11-year-old boy under her legal guardianship was found handcuffed to the front porch of a farm home with a dead chicken tied to his neck. The year before, the Observer reported previously, a sheriff’s deputy filed a report with Union County DSS that was dismissed about the boy when the child turned up at a neighbor’s home begging for food and saying he didn’t know where he lived.
Larson pleaded guilty to felony and misdemeanor charges in 2015, including failure to perform her duty as a public official. The boy and two other foster children also secured a $1 million settlement from the state in 2021.
Multiple Cherokee County social services employees were convicted on or pleaded guilty to misconduct charges in 2021 and 2024. Those charges stemmed from the agency’s use of fake legal documents to unlawfully remove children from their families over the course of several years, Carolina Public Press and Blue Ridge Public Radio reported.
This story was originally published June 12, 2026 at 12:59 PM.
