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Ex-ACS Worker Charged In Brooklyn Girl's Death Speaks Out

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- The supervisor at the Administration for Children's Services who was charged in connection with the death of a starved and beaten 4-year-old girl is speaking out.

In an interview with the Wall Street Journal, Chereece Bell said she asked her superiors to transfer caseworker Damon Adams out of her Brooklyn unit three months before Marchella Brett-Pierce died claiming that he couldn't handle his workload.

Bell said she and her bosses also discussed taking Adams' cases away from him but that didn't happen. Adams' lawyer tells the Journal he can't confirm that.

Bell and Adams were charged with criminally negligent homicide – the first such prosecution of ACS case workers in New York City. Both pleaded not guilty  last week to the charges.

The ACS did not comment.

Adams was accused of never visiting Brett-Pierce who was beaten and weighed just 18 pounds when she died in September, and with falsifying records after her death.

Bell also faced charges for failing to monitor his work. Her lawyer said they shouldn't be held responsible.

The little girl's mother, Carlotta Brett-Pierce, was charged in November with second-degree murder. Her grandmother, Loretta Brett, was charged with second-degree manslaughter in the high-profile case.

The ACS was supposed to adopt new policies following the death of 7-year-old Nixzmary Brown in 2006. Brooklyn District Attorney Charles Hynes vowed to investigating the entire agency.

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