An employee with the Department of Children and Families has been suspended for failing to act on a call about the man accused of dropping his daughter off a St. Petersburg bridge.
Phoebe Jonchuck, 5, was later thrown to her death from the Dick Misener Bridge in St. Petersburg. Her father, John Jonchuck Jr., is accused of killing her.
An attorney had called the child abuse hotline to report concerns about Jonchuck's behavior, but J'Nay Washington said she didn't pass the call on to investigators because she couldn't verify Jonchuck's address.
Washington was suspended for three days. She was cited by a state DCF official for mishandling the call in a disciplinary letter.
"Your concern about the validity of the street address, standing alone, did not justify your rejection of the report," the letter read.
The letter went on to say Washington should have discussed the situation with a supervisor, and that she failed to do so even though management was on site when the call was made.
Another person had called the hotline the day before Phoebe died, but that call was also screened out.
After Phoebe's death, DCF officials immediately changed protocol, mandating that child protective investigators must respond within four hours if a caregiver is potentially experiencing a psychotic episode.