Former DCS employee arrested for false records
A now former employee of the Department of Child Services (DCS) has been arrested and charged with Forgery and/or Obstruction of a Child Abuse Assessment.
Todd Aaron Click, 51, worked for the Ripley County DCS from July 9, 2023 through March 2, 2024, when he resigned, according to paperwork filed in Ripley County Superior Court.
In the affidavit for Probable Cause, Michael Lepper, a law enforcement officer with the Indiana Office of Inspector General (OIG) wrote, “During my investigation I found evidence that Click falsified at least ten (10) MaGIK entries and forged the signatures of parents/caregivers on at least seven (7) DCS forms required during the assessment process.”
Click is accused of submitting official reports in his role as a Family Case Manager that contained false information of family visits along with DCS documents with forged signatures of parents and or caregivers.
These cases were in Ripley County, and more specifically from Batesville, Holton and Osgood.
They range from making false reports of telephone calls to face-to-face meetings with families in crisis that never took place. In one instance Click said he met with the family in their home and reported “the children looked healthy,” but that meeting didn’t take place.
Another involved a report of a child who reported to a school official she had been fondled by a family friend. Although Click reported checking on this, it took a second call to a hotline to discover no one from DCS had even been to the home.
There are more cases that Click made false reports of checking out.
Information from the Probable Cause reads in part, “…an assessment of alleged Child Abuse and/or Neglect (CA/N) is a comprehensive process and is completed to ensure the safety and well-being of a child alleged to be a victim of CA/N. These initial investigations occur immediately following a report of alleged abuse or neglect that is received by the DCS hotline.”
Click’s role as an assessment worker is critical to a victim getting help. When the reports go through that everything is okay, it gives the impression there’s no need for concern. In this critical role, Click, who also served as the Chief of Police in Rushville and is currently employed as a state parole officer, should have had hyper vigilance in protecting families in Ripley County. “While I have no information that his complete disregard for DCS policy and children safety cause any actual harm, these crimes put at least five (5) Ripley County families and eleven (11) children in danger because he failed to perform his duties as he was trained,” noted Lepper in court paperwork filed in Ripley County.
Click is currently listed as a defense witness in the Delphi murder investigation where two girls were murdered (State vs. Richard Allen).
Click was arrested last week and was held over the weekend in Ripley County Jail without bond. His initial hearing was at 9 a.m. Monday, October 7.
Editor’s Note: Defendants are presumed innocent until proven guilty.
