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Bill Calls For State To Pay $3.75M In Barahona Case

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MIAMI (CBSMiami/NSF) - A South Florida senator filed a proposal Friday that calls for the state to pay $3.75 million in a settlement stemming from the high-profile 2011 murder of 10-year-old Nubia Barahona and injuries suffered by her twin brother, Victor.

The bill (SB 48), filed by Sen. Anitere Flores, R-Miami, will be considered during the 2016 legislative session and cites negligence by the Department of Children and Families.

The twins were placed as foster children in the home of Jorge and Carmen Barahona and were later adopted by the couple.

The bill said, in part, that before the adoption "significant events occurred which the Department of Children and Families knew or should have known were indicative of the perpetration of abuse."

Jorge and Carmen Barahona were charged with murder and other offenses after Nubia Barahona's decomposing body was found in February 2011 in a garbage bag in the bed of her father's pickup truck on Interstate 95 in Palm Beach County. Victor Barahona was convulsing in the truck, as both children had been doused with toxic chemicals, authorities said.

The criminal charges remain pending. State and federal lawsuits were filed on behalf of Victor Barahona and the estate of Nubia Barahona, according to Flores' bill, which does not mention the children by name.

A $5 million settlement was reached, but the Department of Children and Families could only pay $1.25 million without passage of a legislative "claim" bill directing payment of the rest.

"The News Service of Florida contributed to this report."

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