SD Child Death
Date: 11-29-2022 6:20 PM - Word Count: 814

SD Child Death
   Adoptive Mother, Grandparents Accused in Girl's Death Remain Held Without Bail
   Eds: Prosecutor Meredith Pro can be reached at 619-441-4354; Steffen
can be reached at 850-285-6330 or chris.steffen@sdsheriff.org.
   By JASON KUROSU
   City News Service
   EL CAJON (CNS) - A judge today denied bail for the adoptive mother and
grandmother of an 11-year-old Spring Valley girl who was allegedly starved
and beaten over the course of several years, leading to her death last summer.
   Tuesday's bail review hearing yielded the first specifics regarding
the accusations against Leticia Diane McCormack, 49, and McCormack's parents,
70-year-old Adella Tom and 75-year-old Stanley Tom.
   The three are accused in the Aug. 30 death of Aarabella McCormack and
the abuse of Aarabella's two sisters, ages 6 and 7. Leticia McCormack and
Stanley Tom are charged with murder, and all three defendants are charged with
torture and child abuse counts in relation to Aarabella and the girl's two
sisters.
   They have remained in custody without bail since their arrests earlier
this month. All three face multiple life terms if convicted.
   Police had not previously discussed the possible involvement of
McCormack's husband, Brian McCormack, who killed himself as sheriff's deputies
sought to speak with him, but Deputy District Attorney Meredith Pro said
Tuesday that barring his suicide, ``There would be a fourth defendant in this
case.''
   According to Pro, Leticia McCormack was the ``ringleader'' in the
alleged abuse, but the McCormacks and Toms ``all worked together to starve''
the children by withholding food and water and at other times, ``physically
abused them with paddles and sticks.''
   The prosecutor said the children were kept isolated to their bedrooms,
not allowed to have friends, and were not allowed to use the bathroom when
they needed.
   Pro said communications between Brian and Leticia McCormack indicated
he thought Aarabella ``was starving to death and he believed she was going to
die'' in the days leading up to Aug. 30.
   The prosecutor said that when law enforcement responded to the
defendants' home just before 2 a.m. Aug. 30, Aarabella was found unresponsive
on the floor.
   Pro said the girl was ``severely emaciated'' at the time of her death,
weighing only 48 pounds, less than she weighed when she was 5 years old.
She also had 15 healing bone fractures, which Pro alleged likely occurred
within the last four months of her life. The two other girls were also
emaciated, malnourished, and in need of immediate medical care.
   Defense attorneys for McCormack and Adella Tom argued Tuesday that
some amount of bail should be set, as they said their clients have no prior
criminal history and do not represent a danger to the public.
   Gregory Garrison, who represents McCormack, said his client is also
not a flight risk. Garrison said she lacks a valid passport, doesn't speak any
foreign languages and has no ties to anyone outside of the United States. Randy
Wagner, Tom's attorney, said much of the same regarding his client, adding that
she is 70 years old and does not drive.
   Pro relayed that the two surviving girls are afraid of the defendants.
   ``They have expressed that they are happy that these two individuals
are in custody and that they hope that they remain there because it makes them
feel safe,'' the prosecutor said. ``The People believe anyone who has this
ability to commit crimes of this nature against children who are defenseless
... are exactly the type of people that no bail is appropriate for.''
   While explaining that she must assume the allegations are true for the
purpose of setting bail, Judge Kathleen Lewis denied the bail request.
   ``I think anyone who is capable of doing the acts that are presented
by the D.A. makes them a threat to members of the public,'' Lewis said.
   The three girls began living with the McCormacks in 2017 and were
adopted by Brian and Leticia McCormack in 2019. The torture and child abuse
counts listed on the criminal complaint allege those crimes occurred between
Jan. 1, 2017 and the date of Aarabella's death.
   Leticia McCormack has been described as an ordained elder with San
Diego's Rock Church, and in a statement released earlier this month, the church
said her ordination was suspended at the beginning of the investigation and she
is no longer affiliated with the church.
   The statement described her as a volunteer whose involvement with the
church was in ``a limited capacity and was mostly focused on administrative
coordination.''
   In an address to the church's congregation, Rock Church pastor Miles
McPherson said numerous background checks were conducted prior to her
involvement with the church, yet ``nothing revealed that anything like this
would happen.''
   Copyright 2022, City News Service, Inc.

CNS-11-29-2022 18:20