InDepthNH.org The man the state of New Hampshire sent to investigate claims five-year-old Harmony Montgomery was being abused, before he dismissed the case, was twice removed from his positions during his career amidst alarming behavior, according to records obtained by InDepthNH.org.
But despite at least one known conviction for domestic violence, later annulled, and a separate complaint over sexual harassment, Demetrios Tsaros of Pembroke managed to stay employed by the New Hampshire Department of Health and Human Services.
Contacted Monday, Tsaros denied initially he had been fired in the past. When he testified at Harmony’s murder trial, he said he left the state in September of 2021 and was working for the U.S. Postal Service.
“I don’t even know where you’re getting that,” Tsaros said.
When told InDepthNH.org obtained records from the state Personnel Appeals Board and the Police Standards and Training Council about his past employment history, Tsaros brought the conversation to a close.
“I don’t want to discuss this anymore,” Tsaros said.
Tsaros is central to the lawsuit brought by Harmony Montgomery’s mother, Crystal Sorey. As a child protective service worker with the Division for Children, Youth and Families, Tsaros was tasked in the summer of 2019 to investigate a report that the five-year-old girl was being abused by her father, Adam Montgomery.
According to the lawsuit, Tsaros failed to interview Harmony and Adam Montgomery for weeks after the report was made that the girl had been beaten and given a black eye. Though he later reported seeing faded bruising and redness around the girl’s eye, Tsaros didn’t speak to the girl, contact police, or take any other action to protect her, the lawsuit states.
Adam Montgomery was convicted this year in Harmony’s cruel and violent murder, which took place in December of 2019.
Retired Massachusetts judge and author, Carol Erskine, whose book Cruel Injustice covers Harmony’s story, did not know about Tsaros’ history before being contacted by InDepthNH.org. She was astounded Tsaros was in his position at DCYS at all.
“The notion you have a state moving a person who has prior domestic violence charges against him from agency to agency is shocking to me,” Erskine said. “Here is this tiny, little, beautiful girl who was supposed to be protected by the New Hampshire child protection system, and it is beyond sickening to learn her so-called protector has a history of violence.”
InDepthNH.org has learned the 2001 domestic violence conviction was annulled. Under New Hampshire law, annulled convictions do not show up on background checks as they are considered not to exist once the annulment goes through.
Blair and Johnathon Miller, the adopted fathers of Harmony’s brother, Jamison, said in a statement to InDepthNH.org that Tsaros’ employment history is another illustration of the many ways New Hampshire and Massachusetts authorities failed Harmony.
“There’s no excuse for how these agencies failed to protect Harmony Montgomery and continue to fail to protect other children. The fact of the matter is no one was looking out for Harmony. NO ONE,” the Millers wrote.
According to Sorey’s lawsuit, Tsaros found the Montgomerys living in a filthy house without heat or electricity, where food rotted, and was littered with drug paraphernalia. Tsaros reported that both Kayla and Adam Montgomery claimed their house guest was in relapse, but they were clean.
Tsaros did speak to Kayla Montgomery a week after the alleged beating, but he did not speak to Harmony, or to Adam Montgomery. That did not stop Tsaros from telling Manchester Police there was nothing to worry about.
“Following this visit, Tsaros noted in the Contact Log that he sent an email to the Manchester Police Department stating that ‘…I think you folks are all set. I saw the children and did not observe any bruises, marks, etc…,’” the lawsuit states.
According to the documents obtained by InDepthNH.org, Tsaros worked for the state Department of Health and Human Services from 1995 to 2021, though in three different capacities. He was a police officer with the New Hampshire Hospital Campus Police Department, until his police certification was surrendered due to the domestic violence conviction. He was then a youth counselor for the Sununu Youth Services Center, formerly known as YDC, and remained one even after he was fired after a sexual harassment investigation. Finally, he went to DCYF as a child protection service worker. …
READ FULL ARTICLE HERE… | InDepthNH.org
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