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Child's Safety Questioned

By MATT BURGARD
Courant Staff Writer

November 23 2005

The state Department of Children and Families has not opened an investigation into an agency employee shot in a Hartford carjacking while picking up her daughter at school, even though police found a gun and thousands of dollars in cash hidden in her SUV, sources involved in the case said.

DCF spokesman Gary Kleeblatt said Tuesday that he could not comment on whether the agency is looking into whether Jewel Cooper, a 33-year-old social worker with the agency, is connected to any illegal activity that might have placed her daughter or other children in harm's way.

But sources in the case say DCF has not yet received a complaint about the child's welfare from either Hartford police or anyone in the girl's family, which would be needed to open an investigation.

Jeanne Milstein, the state's child advocate and a prominent DCF watchdog, said she was alarmed that the agency has not taken any steps to find out if Cooper knowingly put her daughter at risk by placing her in an SUV containing contraband.

Police initially believed Cooper was a random victim in last week's attack outside the Hartford Area Seventh Day Adventist School on Woodland Street, but they have since concluded that she was in all likelihood the intended target in the attack because her boyfriend has extensive ties to the local drug trade, sources said.

"Now that it has come to light that this involves guns and, potentially, drugs and drug money, it's clear this child was put at enormous risk," Milstein said. "I would expect that DCF would investigate this as soon as possible."

Hartford police declined to say why no report has been submitted to DCF, though sources said the girl has been placed in the custody of extended family members and not in the care of Cooper's boyfriend, who has not been identified.

Cooper, who was continuing to recover from gunshot wounds at St. Francis Hospital and Medical Center Tuesday, has been on paid administrative leave since Nov. 3 for personal reasons unrelated to last week's incident, Kleeblatt said. Kleeblatt declined to say why Cooper has been placed on leave.

Cooper joined DCF in May 2003 as a social worker specializing in providing assistance and treatment for troubled families. She earns a salary of about $56,500 a year.

In last week's attack, Cooper struggled to fend off her attacker, but was severely beaten and shot once in the side. The gunman then drove off in the BMW, which was found abandoned a couple of hours later on a street less than a mile from the school.

The 8-year-old girl, who got out of the vehicle before her mother's attacker stole it and drove off, was not injured in the incident.

Hartford police have not located the gunman, and no arrests have been made in the case.

While Cooper was originally thought to be an innocent victim, police suspicions were heightened over the weekend when a search of Cooper's BMW sport utility vehicle uncovered a hidden compartment containing at least one gun and between $10,000 and $12,000 in cash, sources said.

Police then learned that Cooper's boyfriend, who is the father of her 8-year-old daughter, has a record of drug activity in the city and may have been in the middle of a dispute with rival dealers that may have prompted the attack.

When detectives went to the hospital to talk to Cooper about the carjacking, she declined to answer their questions and instead asked for an attorney, sources said.

Cooper was unavailable to comment Tuesday.
Copyright 2005, Hartford Courant