State withheld records on abused boy, suit says
http://www.heraldnet.com/article/20080411/NEWS01/389828802
By Diana Hefley
Herald Writer
EVERETT -- The state has illegally withheld records about how social
workers handled abuse allegations involving a young boy who nearly
starved to death last year, according to a civil lawsuit filed Thursday
against the state Department of Social and Health Services.
Shayne Abegg, now 5, was removed from his father's south Everett
apartment in 2007 after he was found severely malnourished. The boy
could barely walk and his hair was falling out when police found him.
His father, Danny Abegg, recently was sentenced to 8 years in prison for
starving Shayne. The man's girlfriend, Marilea Mitchell, also was
sentenced to 8 years behind bars.
Seattle attorney David Moody alleges that the state has failed to turn
over thousands of documents he requested under the state's public
records laws. He requested the documents in December and has received
only a fraction of the records the state has about its involvement with
Shayne, according to the lawsuit filed in Snohomish County Superior Court.