Dad, 2 social workers get prison in final Danieal sentences

THE SAD STORY of Danieal Kelly concluded yesterday after the final three defendants convicted for contributing to the handicapped girl's 2006 starvation death received prison sentences.

"I know I let my daughter down," a downcast Daniel Kelly, 40, said moments before he and two social workers were each sentenced to 2 1/2 to five years in state prison.

In July, a jury convicted the absentee dad of child endangerment for turning Danieal over to his ex-wife - her mother - even though he knew she was an unfit parent. The child wasted away to 42 pounds and died at 14 in her mother's filthy West Philadelphia home in August 2006.

Dana Poindexter, 54, a former city Department of Human Services social worker who failed to do paperwork and check on the girl and her family as he was required, also expressed remorse.

"I always see her face at some point during the day," he said.

Mickal Kamuvaka, 62, who ran the social-service agency contracted by the city to monitor Danieal's family, declined to speak. Common Pleas Judge Jeffrey Minehart ruled that her sentence would begin after a 19-year federal sentence she is serving related to the case.

Poindexter was convicted of child endangerment, perjury and reckless endangerment. Kamuvaka was convicted of the same charges, as well as involuntary manslaughter, forgery and tampering with evidence.