How Could You? Hall of Shame-Gwanda Tribett 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 Springfield, Illinois, foster mother and pastor’s wife, Gwanda K. Tribbet, 47, has been charged with “aggravated criminal sexual abuse and criminal sexual assault”  for “allegedly having sexual intercourse with her 16-year-old foster son in Washington Park” after a December 28, 2011 arrest.

“Authorities said Tribbet and her husband are involved with the Lively Stone Temple church in Springfield. Newspaper archives from 2005 identify them as the pastor and first lady of the church.”

The boy and another foster child in Tribbet’s care were removed from the home according to Kenneth Marlowe, spokesman for Illinois DCFS.

“”DCFS has opened an investigation. There were no prior DCFS investigations against Tribbet, who has been a foster parent for about 15 years, Marlowe said.

According to Springfield Park District police, an officer on patrol saw a vehicle parked in a back corner of the parking lot of the rose garden at Washington Park. A coat was draped over the window, which heightened the officer’s suspicions, so he walked up and shined a light on it and found Tribbet and the boy inside.

As the two were getting dressed, police determined the boy was 16 and that the woman was his foster mother.

Police said the boy told the officer the two were having sexual intercourse. They said Tribbet denied it at first, but admitted to “some fondling and other things.”

The officer notified DCFS and the Sangamon County Child Advocacy Center, which sent detectives from Illinois State Police to interview the boy and Tribbet.

Police said Tribbet later admitted having sexual intercourse with the boy three or four times during the month that he had been in her care.

Marlowe declined to give the age of the second foster son in Tribbet’s care. He could not say if investigators are looking into possible inappropriate contact between that child and Tribbet, noting that it is early in the investigation.

“Suffice it to say that is obviously something that we would look into,” he said.””

Springfield pastor’s wife jailed for alleged sex with foster son
[PJStar.com 1/4/12 by Jayette Bolinski]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Like many of our cases in our How Could You? archive, better vetting during the homestudy/renewal of homestudy instead of checking off a list of completed bureaucratic paperwork can help prevent some of these cases. Free passes should not be granted for length of time that someone has fostered (in this case 15 years) or just because the applicant has a religious affiliation.  The news story says that the police will look into the abuse of the other current foster child, but we have to ask: What about looking into the welfare of all the other foster children that this woman has fostered for the past 15 years?

Update/August 12, 2013

A search of the Sangamon County, Illinois court records shows that Gwanda posted a $15,000 cash bond on January 6, 2012. She was charged with 5 counts of  criminal sexual assault and 5 counts of aggravated criminal sexual abuse. All are Class 2 felonies.

A jury trial was scheduled for April 30, 2012 but was continued to July 16, 2012. Then it was continued to August 27, 2012 and then November 5, 2012. She pled guilty to counts 6-10 and prosecution dropped counts 1-5. She was sentenced on December 5, 2012 to “48 months probation to be served concurrent. Defendant sentenced to 8 days in Sangamon County Jail with credit for time served awaiting trial.”