Jury convicts former Cherokee Co. DSS attorney on 12 felony counts of obstruction in child removal cases

Scott Lindsay , the former attorney for the Cherokee County Department of Social Services who was tied to that agency’s use of fake legal documents to unlawfully remove children from their families over several years, has been convicted of obstruction of justice in relation to those cases.

Lindsay’s trial took place over the last several days in Macon County , after being moved there due to concerns about difficulty in finding an unbiased jury in Cherokee County. Jurors returned a guilty verdict on 12 felony counts and two misdemeanor accounts on Monday, May 13.

The Macon County Clerk of Courts office told Carolina Public Press that Lindsay has already issued a notice of his plan to appeal the verdict to the North Carolina Court of Appeals. If the verdict were upheld, Lindsay would face probation on a suspended sentence of five to 15 months in prison.

CPP previously extensively covered the illegal child removals in Cherokee County. Former DSS Director Cindy Palmer pleaded guilty to a felony in late 2021 in relation to the cases. Federal courts have returned multiple large civil verdicts against the county DSS office as children and their families have sued.

CPP also raised questions in 2019, which remain unanswered, about the mysterious and unprecedented shredding of documents at the agency at the same time that Palmer returned to employment there, despite court orders that documents should be preserved.

The North Carolina Department of Justice handled Lindsay’s prosecution after the local district attorney recused herself. Attorney General Josh Stein issued a brief statement Monday afternoon noting the successful handling of the case by Special Prosecution Section head and Special Deputy Attorney General Boz Zellinger and Special Deputy Attorney General Arneatha James .

“Public servants have a responsibility to the people they serve – they have a duty to uphold the law and protect the vulnerable,” Stein said.

“Scott Lindsay failed to do that and harmed families in Cherokee County, who suffered for years. I thank the jury in Macon County for their verdict. My heart goes out to these families, and I hope this verdict eases their pain.”

Lindsay’s attorney, Jerry Townson , could not be reached for comment.

Lindsay and the CVAs

As CPP has previously reported, multiple officials in Cherokee County have pointed to Lindsay as the source of a phony legal document called a “ Custody and Visitation Agreement ” that parents were ordered to sign. The signed documents were then used to remove children from families.

A CVA uses legal language , which gives the appearance of a legal document to a layperson. Social workers in Cherokee County also told parents the document granted permanent legal custody of the child until he or she turned age 18.

While North Carolina social services agencies do legally remove children from their families in some circumstances, such as abuse or neglect, such action requires approval from a judge.

In Cherokee County, located in the state’s southwestern corner on the Tennessee and Georgia lines, Lindsay offered DSS officials the ability to use CVAs when they wanted to remove a child but didn’t want to meet the burden of proof that a judge might demand.

In at least one case, the courts heard testimony that parents were coerced into signing the CVAs despite limited reading ability and uncertainty about what they were giving up by signing.

Court testimony in previous cases has shown that some of the children faced abuse and neglect in the placements DSS arranged for them by using the CVAs.

Lindsay previously has said he learned about the CVAs from another attorney, but did not produce evidence to show that they were not his own invention.

The North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, in an attempt to ensure that no one else was using the forms, asked local agencies in late 2017 to share any forms they might be using and then issued an order that agencies not use any irregular forms in child protective services.

Previous CPP reporting also found that Cherokee DSS was vulnerable to a scheme like Lindsay’s CVAs in part because Palmer was promoted to run the agency, despite not meeting basic qualifications the state had established for the position even though qualified applicants existed. Palmer is also the wife of Derrick Palmer , who at the time was Cherokee County sheriff.