Police assert they did nothing wrong in Vicosa tragedy - after agreeing to a $3M settlement

Last week, a $3 million settlement in a case involving the deaths of Marisa Vicosa’s two young daughters was approved in York County Court.

The agreement outlined the York County Regional Police department’s missteps and errors in handling the case, including alleged inaction by its chief, Tim, Damon, and one of his lieutenants, Kenneth Schollenberger, to serve Marisa’s estranged husband with an emergency Protection from Abuse Order and execute a search warrant at the family’s Windsor Township home.

After York County Judge Clyde Vedder approved the settlement agreement, the attorney for the police department filed a brief response acknowledging that a settlement in the case had been reached but denying that the police department had “any liability on its behalf of that of its agents for the tragic consequences of the violent and murderous acts of Robert Vicosa."

The police department also denied that “any asserted act or failure to act … caused, or contributed to, the deaths of Giana Vicosa and Aaminah Vicosa,” according to the three-page response filed by the department’s attorney, Gregory Hirtzel, of Lancaster.

Sisters Giana, left, and Aaminah Vicosa sit on pumpkins in a submitted portrait.
Sisters Giana, left, and Aaminah Vicosa sit on pumpkins in a submitted portrait.

Robert Vicosa, a disgraced Baltimore County police officer, killed his daughters, Gianna, 7, and Aaminah, 6, after a weeklong ordeal that began with the restraint, drugging, torturing and rape of Marisa.

On Nov. 12, a Friday, Vicosa lured his estranged wife to the home they had previously shared under the auspices of celebrating her birthday with her daughters. Marisa had been living with her mother and the couple shared custody of their daughters.

After the girls went to bed, Vicosa and a friend, Tia Bynum, also a Baltimore County police officer, restrained Marisa and forced her to ingest an unknown drug. Then, Vicosa repeatedly raped her that night and into the next day. Robert Vicosa threatened to kill her, her family and their children if she tried to leave.

Marisa was able to convince her estranged husband to allow her to leave the house the afternoon of Nov. 14, ostensibly to return to her mother’s house to fetch clothing and her laptop. Robert Vicosa again threatened to kill her, her family and their children if she did not return or sought help from the police.

Previously:Torture, rape, murder & police negligence: Vicosa settlement details tragic failures by cops

The manhunt:Seven days of horror end on a rural Maryland road with two ex-cops and two girls dead

Marisa did contact the police and York County Regional Police Cpl. Daniel Miller, the shift supervisor, called Schollenberger, who declined to report for duty to supervise any plan to rescue the children, who the corporal determined to be in grave danger. Schollenberger then contacted Damon, who also chose not to report for duty.

Miller and his fellow officers came up with an alternative plan, having Marisa file for an emergency PFA and seeking a search warrant for the Vicosa family home on Pleader Lane. Schollenberger and Damon approved the plan, as did an on-duty assistant district attorney.

District Judge Ronald Haskell issued the PFA and the search warrant at 8:56 that Sunday night.

Police officers planned to serve the PFA and execute the warrant that night, believing that the lives of Vicosa’s daughters were in danger. Damon overrode the plan, deciding instead to wait until the next morning when he believed the girls would be on the school bus and away from the home.

Marisa had told Miller that her children were homeschooled and would not be on a school bus that Monday morning. Damon, according to the petition filed in the settlement, never “talked with or sought any input from Marisa.”

At about 3 p.m. that Monday, when police went to serve the PFA and search warrant the next morning, Vicosa was gone. Police also executed a search warrant for Bynum’s nearby home, but neither Robert Vicosa nor his children were there. Police did not detain Bynum. Nor did they place her under surveillance, even though it was determined later that she had been in constant contact with Vicosa.

A manhunt for Vicosa ensued.

Three days, and two stolen cars later, on Nov. 18, Pennsylvania State Police spotted the second stolen car in Waynesboro, near the Maryland border. They alerted Maryland police.

Shortly after crossing the border on Route 418 near Smithsburg, Maryland, the car veered off the road and came to rest in a culvert.

Police later determined that Robert Vicosa, seated in the back seat with his daughters and Bynum drove, shot and killed the girls before killing Bynum and then himself.

Marisa had filed a private criminal complaint against Damon, later withdrawing it.

The state Attorney General's office reviewed the police response, the results of which are contained in a letter to the York County District Attorney's office. The letter was not made available to Marisa's lawyer, Philadelphia attorney Harold Goodman. Goodman, according to the settlement, was briefed on its contents and wrote in the settlement petition that the letter describes "major concerns with certain lapses and decisions” leading up to the abduction and murder of Giana and Aaminah. The York Daily Record has sued for public disclosure of the letter’s contents, litigation that is currently before the state Commonwealth Court.

Goodman later entered negotiations with the police department seeking a settlement to stave off a lengthy and costly civil suit. After 10 months, a settlement was reached, awarding the estates of each child $1.2 million and awarding Marisa $800,000.

Columnist/reporter Mike Argento has been a York Daily Record staffer since 1982. Reach him at mike@ydr.com.

This article originally appeared on York Daily Record: Police deny any wrongdoing in the Vicosa case in a court filing