How Could You? Hall of Shame -Ronald and Tammy White UPDATED

This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.

From Spring Hill, Florida, adoptive parent Ronald White, 36, was arrested on Monday, July 25, 2011. He has been charged with “aggravated child abuse causing great bodily harm and aggravated child abuse by caging. His bail was set at $20,000.” He will be arraigned on August 18. He and his wife have three adopted teenagers-one boy and two girls . They moved from Georgia recently and were renting a house.

According to Hernando Today, “Deputies said White punched his son in the eye, forced him to drink a gallon of water and caged him inside a room without access to a toilet.

An investigation began after paramedics came to White’s house July 14 and found the unconscious boy on the bathroom floor, according to the sheriff’s office.

He was taken to Spring Hill Regional Hospital, where he was listed in critical condition “due to all his organs shutting down and his body being in septic shock,” wrote Detective George Loydgren in an arrest affidavit.

Doctors said the teen had a black left eye and several bruises across his arms, legs and chest. He was airlifted to All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.”

“Eight days after the teen was taken to the hospital, Loydgren spoke with him. He said his father had physically abused him, according to the sheriff’s office.

[So it took 3 days after the accusation to have this guy arrested?Well I guess it was a weekend and Florida does have issues with weekend work. See Nubia Barahona case.  ]

Deputies would not release the victim’s condition.

Some of the forms of punishment White administered included punching the teen in the face and causing a black eye, striking him several times in the head and body while he was on the floor and using a slide-bolt-style lock to confine him inside a room, deputies said.

Loydgren stated White locked the victim in his room every night and wouldn’t allow him to use the bathroom. The boy’s bedroom door had a “slide-bolt-style lock” on the outside, according to the affidavit.”

“The teen told Loydgren one of White’s favorite methods of punishment was making him drink large quantities of water at once, according to the affidavit.

White’s wife was interviewed and corroborated her son’s allegations, deputies said. Jail records show she has not been charged.”

Father Accused of caging adopted son
[Hernando Today 7/26/11 by Tony Holt]

Ronald bonded out of jail on Tuesday, July 26. “I love my children. I love them,” a crying Ronald White said.” and “”I made a simple mistake and I apologize for what I did,” White said.”
“DCF is removing all three kids from the home.” “DCF says it’s also investigating what role White’s wife may have played.”

Additional charges are possible.

Accused child abuser: My kids are “begging” to come home
[WTSP 7/26/11 by Adam Freeman]

Update: “A Florida couple was accused Thursday of forcing their blind adopted son to guzzle a gallon of water – and then locking him in a bedroom without access to a toilet.

The 16-year-old boy, who is also mentally handicapped and was beaten black and blue, nearly died of septic shock as a result of the alleged water torture, police said.

Investigators removed him and the two adopted teenage girls who were also living in the hellish household when they arrested Ronald and Tammy White.

The couple is charged with multiple counts of aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm and caging a child.

“We don’t know at this point how long the child was locked into the room,” Hernando County Sheriff’s Corporal Wendy McGinnis said. “Whether it was several hours a day, several days, weeks, we don’t know at this point.”

Police believe Ronald White, 36, inflicted beatings on the boy and regularly forced all three children to drink gallons of water as punishment.

They are less clear about the role his 42-year-old wife played in the alleged abuse of the children, all of whom were adopted within the last three years.

The nightmarish conditions were discovered on July 14 when paramedics were called to the couple’s Spring Hill home and found the boy – sporting a black eye and bruises across his arms, legs and chest – passed out on a bathroom floor.

They raced the stricken teen to a local hospital and later had him airlifted to All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg after his organs started shutting down.

He remains in critical condition.

The Whites hail from tiny Ambrose, Ga., where they racked up nearly $150,000 in debts and twice declared bankruptcy, records show. The most recent filing was in 2008.

[Georgia approved 3 adoptions in 3 years for a couple who filed bankruptcy in one of those years! Common sense, people, is it too much to ask?…apparently so.]

In Georgia, people who adopt get up to $486.67 per month for 13- to 18-year-old children, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

While it’s not clear whether the Whites adopted to get out of debt – or whether they continued to receive payments after moving to Florida – their payments would have amounted to $17,520.12 a year, the paper calculated.”

Cops: Ronald & Tammy White locked blind, mentally handicapped adopted son in cage
[New York Daily News 8/4/11 by Corky Siemaszko]

Update 2:
 “Charges have been stacked against one accused sex offender and child abuser – and the possibility still looms the stack will get higher.

Ronald White, 37, was arrested in July 2011 on charges of aggravated child abuse following allegations he forced his 16-year-old adopted son to drink gallons of water.[Before it was reported that it was one gallon.] The boy, authorities said, went into septic shock and had to be hospitalized at All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg.

More charges were filed against White in January. He is accused of having sex on numerous occasions with a 15-year-old girl.

Among the many sexual encounters White had with the girl was when the two roomed together last summer at the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg. They stayed there overnight while White’s son was in the hospital, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.

The girl told a case worker she had been raped by White at the facility, deputies said.

The girl, who was carrying White’s child and staying in a foster home in Marion County, told a Hernando detective in January about the alleged rape, according to a sheriff’s report.

The detective said the girl thinks she became pregnant when White raped her in St. Petersburg.

The St. Petersburg Police Department was made aware of the allegation and the case was forwarded to the state attorney’s office, a police spokesman said.

“We are investigating an offense involving Mr. White that occurred in Pinellas County,” said Executive Assistant State Attorney Beverly Andringa.

The state attorney’s office in Hernando already has filed eight felony charges against White in relation to the alleged sex abuse. White was charged with four counts each of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation.

In relation to the injuries suffered by his adopted son, White was charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse.

In that case, he and his wife, Tammy White, 42, were accused of using water torture against their adopted son, which caused his organs to shut down. They also locked him inside a room for extended periods of time, deputies said.

The couple had three adopted teenagers living with them at their home at 1315 Medford Ave. and all of them were subjected to abuse, authorities said.

The boy was taken to the hospital after paramedics responded to the family’s home and found the 16-year-old unconscious on the floor, according to the sheriff’s office.

When he was interviewed at the hospital, the boy told a detective his father punched him in the face and struck him several times in the head and body while he was lying on the floor.

The detective stated in his report the boy would spend the night confined in a room that was locked from the outside. The boy also told authorities he had no access to a bathroom while he was in the room.

The couple adopted the teens while they lived in Coffee County, Ga.

Additionally, the girl who made the rape allegations against Ronald White told investigators the sex started when the two lived in Georgia, according to the sheriff’s office.

Court records show White and his wife were not convicted of any crimes while they were Georgia residents. The couple moved to Hernando in early 2011, shortly after they adopted their three children, according to reports.

The couple had a history of financial problems. Georgia law allowed for the couple to collect thousands of dollars per year in state assistance after they adopted their three children.

A message left with a Coffee County Sheriff’s spokesman was not returned Thursday.

Ronald and Tammy White remain in jail and the children have been removed from the house, according to the sheriff’s office.

The girl said White started having sex with her as early as January 2011, according to the detective’s report.

The same detective said he asked her why she never reported it and she said it was because White told her they would both go to jail if anyone found out.

The girl also said White had sex with her at least five times per month, according to the report. She told the detective the sex usually took place while White’s wife was out of the house or sleeping.”

Spring Hill child abuse suspect also being investigated in Pinellas
[Hernando Today 4/26/12 by Tony Holt]

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update 3: “During a pretrial hearing Thursday [May 24, 2012], White officially turned down an offer of a 25-year prison sentence, according to court records.”

 

“In addition to inflicting water torture on their 16-year-old son, the couple also locked him inside a room for long periods of time at their home at 1315 Medford Ave., according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.

The boy went into septic shock and was flown to All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg, deputies said. He survived his injuries.

The husband and wife were charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse.

Ronald White’s next court hearing is June 21, at which time a trial date is expected to be set. His wife’s next hearing is July 3.

Ronald White’s legal troubles got even worse after allegations surfaced earlier this year he raped a 15-year-old girl at the Ronald McDonald House during his son’s hospital stay.

Ronald White spent the night at the St. Petersburg facility while doctors cared for his son, authorities said.

He is accused of having sexual relations several more times with the same underage girl in Hernando County. He was charged with four counts each of sexual battery and lewd and lascivious molestation.

White is still being investigated for the St. Petersburg rape allegation. A records search disclosed no charges.

The couple adopted three teenagers while they lived in Coffee County, Ga. Soon thereafter, they moved to Spring Hill, deputies said.

White and his wife remain in jail and their children were removed from their home, according to the sheriff’s office.

If convicted of any of the child abuse or sex charges, Ronald White could face up to life in prison.”

Abuse suspect risks trial

[Hernando Today 5/27/12 by Tony Holt]

Update 4/September 5, 2013

“The father received 20 years in prison and the mother was sentenced to four years.

Both of them pleaded guilty to various child abuse charges related to the July 2011 water torture that landed their adopted 16-year-old son in the hospital.

Ronald White, 38, also was convicted of multiple counts of sexual battery of a 15-year-old girl.

White is still being investigated for sexual battery allegations in Pinellas County, according to reports.

Had he gone to trial for his Hernando felony counts and been convicted, he could have received life in prison.

His wife, Tammy White, pleaded guilty to two child abuse counts. She entered her plea last week in Hernando County Circuit Court. Her husband was sentenced the week prior.

The two were accused of forcing their special needs son of drinking gallons of water at once at their Spring Hill home off Medford Avenue. As a result, the boy went into septic shock and was airlifted to All Children’s Hospital in St. Petersburg in critical condition.

He survived his injuries.

Detectives said White roomed with a 15-year-old girl at the Ronald McDonald House in St. Petersburg while the boy was recovering at the hospital. It was during that stay that White had “many sexual encounters” with the girl, according to the Hernando County Sheriff’s Office.

The girl also told detectives White had sex with her many more times in Hernando County, authorities said.

The reports of the sexual relations at the Ronald McDonald House were forwarded to the St. Petersburg Police Department, which then forwarded the case to the State Attorney’s Office.

A spokeswoman with the State Attorney’s Office in Clearwater did not return a message Thursday. She told Hernando Today in April the investigation remained open.

Hernando deputies said the couple moved to Spring Hill in 2011 from Georgia with their three adopted teenagers, all of whom were subjected to various forms of abuse.

Georgia law allows couples who adopt children to receive thousands of dollars in state assistance. Authorities said the couple decided to adopt in order to escape their financial problems.”

Accused child abusers sentenced to prison

[Hernando Today 10/18/12 by Tony Holt]

A search of Hernando COunty Florida court records shows that Ronald pled guilty to 4 counts of SEX BATT CHILD UNDER 18 BY FAMILY CUSTODIAN; 4 counts of LEWD/LASC MOLEST -CHILD 12YOA BUT L/16 DEF 18YOA; 1 count of AGG CHILD ABUSE INADVERTANT GRT BODILY HARM; and 3 counts of  AGGRAVATED CHILD ABUSE. He has concurrent 15 and 20 year sentences followed by 20 years probation.