After four months, the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services has turned over a set of heavily redacted records involving an alleged murder of a childcare worker at a juvenile treatment center. (Photo illustration by Iowa Capital Dispatch from records provided by Iowa DHHS)
Newly disclosed text messages and emails indicate state officials were asked to assist in handling what was expected to be a “public uproar” caused by a slaying allegedly committed by a youth in a juvenile treatment center.
In May, 15-year-old Jovahn Mathis was charged with second-degree murder in the death of 50-year-old Kathleen Galloway-Menke at Ellipsis, a juvenile treatment center in Johnston where Mathis resided.
Police allege Mathis ran up to Galloway-Menke on May 8 and shoved her, causing her to fall and strike her head. The fall resulted in severe brain damage and, ultimately, Galloway-Menke’s death. Police claim Mathis had a history of threatening violence.
The Iowa Capital Dispatch subsequently asked DHHS whether Mathis was qualified for placement at Ellipsis, and whether a particular employee in the state agency’s Family and Well-Being Protection Division, Janee Harvey, was involved in that decision, and whether the DHHS director, Kelly Garcia, was aware of the transfer or had approved it.
According to emails eventually released in response to Capital Dispatch’s request, Garcia indicated that Harvey may have been “too close” to the situation but her relationship to the case has not been disclosed.
An agency spokesman said in response to Capital Dispatch’s questions that state law prevents DHHS “from commenting on any matters related to child welfare without the proper authorization” – although, in the past, the agency has openly discussed its actions in child-welfare cases that have resulted in a death.
The Capital Dispatch then filed an Open Records Law request with DHHS, asking for access to two weeks’ worth of emails and other written communications that involved Harvey’s actions and the death at Ellipsis.
After four months, DHHS recently turned over a set of heavily redacted emails, many of which are duplicates of a single email string with multiple recipients, and a set of heavily redacted text messages between Garcia and Harvey. DHHS also opted to assert attorney-client privilege in withholding in their entirety 26 emails between unspecified individuals.
Some of the disclosed emails are so heavily redacted that the subject line and all of the message contents, other than a signature, are obscured. Other documents consist of a page that is entirely black from top to bottom, with every typographical character or image redacted from public view.
The messages show that at 12:17 p.m. on May 6, two days before the assault that resulted in the death of Galloway-Menke, Harvey sent an email to a colleague at DHHS, Jeremy Halverson, and copied court personnel and individuals at the Youth Law Center and Ellipsis.
Aside from the email’s salutation and signature, and a line of text referencing “items for consideration/awareness,” the entire contents of the email have been redacted. Presumably, the contents are related to Mathis since the redacted email was provided in response to the Capital Dispatch’s request.
At 6:53 a.m. on May 8, Harvey sent Halverson a “high importance” email. The subject line and all of the email’s contents have been redacted from public view. About an hour later, a caseworker at Ellipisis sent Harvey an email with attachments. The text of her message and the contents of the attachments have been redacted. Harvey responded, “Perfect! Thank you.”
That same evening, shortly after the assault at Ellipsis, Garcia texted Harvey and asked, “How are things? … How can I best support you? Want Chris to communicate with me on this because it’s too close? What else can I do?”
Most of Harvey’s response has been redacted from public view, other than, “No need to intermediate with Chris.”
I want to be sure we are prepared for the public uproar we are certain to get about this situation...
– Chris Koepplin, CEO of Ellipsis
The two exchanged more texts – all of which are redacted from public view – and then, at Garcia’s suggestion, Harvey emailed a colleague at DHHS, Karen Hyatt, and informed her that “we had a significant assault on a staff member at a group home this evening” and that “the executive director of the program, Chris, is (looking) for some trauma support for her team.”
An hour later, Ellipsis’ chief executive officer, Chris Koepplin, wrote to Harvey and others and DHHS and said: “I hate sending this message. I don’t want to sound callous, but things are not looking great and I want to be sure we are prepared for the public uproar we are certain to get about this situation if KT doesn’t come out of it like we hope… I had a conversation with (Des Moines Police Chief Dennis) McDaniel a little bit ago and he is not optimistic about what will happen in the public discourse considering the issues that have already been happening with our kids in the community. I plan to talk to our board and communications people tomorrow to come up with a game plan on our end, but I do think it would be really helpful if we can come together on the messaging around this.”
Harvey responded, indicating she’d be available the next day to discuss the matter and said she’d also talk to Garcia about her availability. Koepplin replied by indicating she was already in discussions with Garcia via text messages.
The next morning, Koepplin wrote to Harvey, Garcia and others at DHHS and said, “I talked with my communications team and they plan to prepare a brief statement as a ‘just in case’ we hear from media for today/tomorrow. There are clearly already a TON of people who are aware and are sharing both accurate and inaccurate information. That feels very out of control.”
Within a half-hour, Lori Frick, the director of Child Protective Services at DHHS, alerted Koepplin and her colleagues at DHHS that she was removing Harvey from the email string “as it is as it is important that we separate her from this situation.”
DHHS records indicate Harvey and Garcia exchanged additional text messages about the situation over the next 11 days, but the contents of those messages have been redacted in their entirety.
As recently as last month, Polk County prosecutors had yet to determine whether Mathis would be charged as an adult, a youthful offender, or a juvenile. A status conference on the case was scheduled to be held two weeks ago, although there is no public records of any case proceedings on Iowa Courts Online.
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