The family of a 12-year-old girl who was allegedly tortured to death by her father and angry stepmother has filed a lawsuit against several state and county agencies, claiming the system is “absolutely broken.”
Malinda Hoagland’s three half-sisters are seeking millions of dollars from Chester County, the Children, Youth and Family Office, Monroe County and the Children and Youth Office, as well as the Coatesville Area School District and the state of Pennsylvania in the federal lawsuit filed Wednesday.
A separate lawsuit was also filed in state court against Commonwealth Charter Academy, the school Malinda attended from January until her death in May.
The lawsuit alleges that all of these different agencies “looked the other way” when there were warning signs that Malinda was being beaten and starved by her father, Rendell Hoagland, 52, and her stepmother Cindy Warren, 45, before she died in May. according to Fox 29.
These missed warning signs were “so astonishing and demonstrated an absolute failure of the system that must never happen again,” prosecutors said.
Malinda Hoagland’s three half-sisters have filed wrongful death lawsuits against several county and Pennsylvania agencies, as well as the schools she attended.
Her father Rendell Hoagland, 52, and her stepmother Cindy Warren, 45, are now charged in her death
The lawsuits allege that representatives from Chester and Monroe counties, as well as staff from the schools Malinda attended, “actively used their authority to [her] in a house where they knew that [she] was the constant victim of repeated abuse, starvation and torment.
“If these defendants had not abused their authority in this manner, Malinda Hoagland would have been evicted from her home, spared months of torture, abuse and starvation, and would be alive today,” the charges say. according to the Philadelphia Inquirer.
The lawsuit alleges that Warren should never have been allowed to live with Malinda because she was convicted of child abuse more than 20 years ago, a conviction that resulted in the death of Jessica Bock, the 2-year-old daughter of her ex-husband McKinley Warren Jr.
Jessica died in 2000 after Warren refused to change her diaper because “she had painted her nails.” Instead, she called McKinley, who had been drinking at a bar, to come home and change the toddler’s diaper. He fatally wounded Jessica in the process.
Warren’s ex-husband McKinley Warren Jr. faces 25 to 50 years in prison for Jessica’s murder and abusing their three-year-old son Isaiah.
Warren, meanwhile, was sentenced to three to seven years in prison after she testified against her ex-partner and pleaded guilty to endangering their son.
But a 2020 custody order in Monroe County specifically prohibited Warren from being alone with Malinda, the Inquirer reports.
Yet nothing happened when Rendell moved with her and Malinda to Montgomery County and eventually to Chester County, the lawsuits allege.
The charges allege that Warren should never have been allowed to live with Malinda because of a child abuse conviction more than 20 years ago.
Warren’s ex-husband McKinley Warren Jr. is sentenced to 25 to 50 years in prison for the death of his 2-year-old daughter Jessica (right)
The charges also allege that staff at North Brandywine Middle School, where Malinda was enrolled until November 2023, filed a complaint with the Department of Health’s ChildLine service about the girls’ absences and their concerns that she was being abused at home, given her physical condition and behavior.
Records show that Malinda had approximately 25 unexcused absences and another 10 excused absences in 2023 before she was removed from in-person learning. NBC Philadelphia reports.
However, officials from the Office for Children, Youth and Families only called the home to discuss concerns and never made an in-person visit, the lawsuit alleges.
In those two phone calls, Hoagland and Warren said they would discuss concerns about Malinda at her next doctor’s appointment. However, documents show there is no evidence she had seen a doctor in the years before her death, the lawsuits allege.
‘If you have a student in your class who is losing weight, losing weight, has scabs, wounds, bruises, [is] “If you hid food in her locker — which they knew about — you need to do more,” attorney Tom Bosworth said.
He noted that the purpose of the civil lawsuits is “to ensure that there is full and complete accountability for the horrific actions of the teachers, care workers and institutions that all miserably failed Malinda.
‘Imposing damages is necessary not only to punish these defendants for their reckless behavior, but also as a deterrent so that something like this can never happen again.’
An autopsy revealed that Malinda had more than 75 identifiable “bruises, contusions, ulcers and pressure sores” on her body
Prosecutors said Malinda was found “barely alive” by police on May 4 after her father called 911 to report that she had crashed her bicycle into a tree.
But doctors at a local hospital were shocked by her condition: she had many bruises, half a dozen broken bones and liver damage.
An autopsy ultimately found more than 75 individually identifiable “bruises, contusions, ulcers and pressure sores” on her body. The conclusion was that her death was caused by “starvation and multiple blunt force injuries.”
Prosecutors said she weighed just 51 pounds (23 kilograms) when she died.
Investigation revealed that Rendell and Warren had deleted several videos and text messages in the hours before her death.
But officers were still able to recover “hundreds of videos and still images from the suspects’ cellphones and Blink security cameras” after obtaining a search warrant.
Photos allegedly showed Hoagland and Warren tying Malinda’s ankles to furniture, forcing her to sleep in chains on the floor without a pillow or blankets, and telling her not to expect breakfast, lunch or dinner.
The obese couple allegedly forced the little girl to do “endless” strenuous exercises while she was handcuffed as punishment for “perceived insults”.
Those “little things” included stealing food, not smiling during Zoom school sessions, or wetting herself while tied to furniture.
They watched her through the video surveillance system, shouting commands and reprimands over the loudspeakers as the girl sat chained and alone in the basement.
Other footage shows Malinda begging Warren to let her go, the complaint said.
“I’m not going to act stupid, I’m not going to make you angry,” the young girl is said to have been heard pleading.
“I know I ruined everything. Please let me change.”
Lawyers for Malinda’s half-sisters say they want accountability from various authorities
According to the Public Prosecution Service, her father and stepmother removed her from physical education in November 2023 and only enrolled her in online classes.
They then allegedly used makeup to cover her bruises and chained her to the ground.
Hoagland and Warren now face the death penalty on charges of first-degree murder.
But investigators have said there is no evidence that the Coatesville Area School District or the online Commonwealth Charter Academy failed to meet legal requirements for reporting abuse.
They say evidence shows that teachers at both schools had regular contact with Malinda.
In a statement to NBC Philadelphia, a spokesperson for the Coatesville Area School District said, “The torture and death of this child is a terrible tragedy.
“We follow and exceed state-mandated policies and procedures for training teachers and staff to recognize and report suspected child abuse,” the spokesperson continued.
“We were shocked and devastated by the news that Malinda Hoagland had passed away, just months after she was expelled from our school last year.”
The Commonwealth Charter Academy also reported that law enforcement officials did not fail in their responsibility to report abuse. The academy also noted that Malinda was a good student who attended classes regularly and was actively involved.
“The death of Malinda Hoagland was tragic and heartbreaking for the CCA school community,” the report said.
A representative for the Pennsylvania Department of Human Services told NBC Philadelphia they could not comment on the ongoing litigation, but called Malinda’s loss “tragic.”
“Our sincere thoughts continue to go out to Malinda’s family and friends as the death and loss of a child is tragic.”