How Could You? Hall of Shame-Florida Adoptive Parent
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 Silver Spring Shores, Florida, an unnamed 88-year-old adoptive father was convicted of” three counts of capital sexual battery and two counts of lewd or lascivious molestation on a child”. He was sentenced to two concurrent life sentences and 210 months in prison to run concurrent with the life sentences on November 16, 2012. His wife is the adopted daughter’s great aunt.
“It took the jury less than a half-hour of deliberation to find the man guilty of all counts.
Once the jury rendered a verdict, Circuit Judge Robert Hodges immediately proceeded to sentence the man to two concurrent life terms in prison for the sexual battery charges.
On the two lewd or lascivious charges, the man was sentenced to 210 months in prison, which will run concurrent with the life sentences.
Earlier Friday, prosecutors played a recorded interview the man had with Inspector Michael Mongeluzzo of the Marion County Sheriff’s Office, in which he admitted to the 10 years of sexual abuse.
At first, the man denied any of the allegations. But after some probing from Mongeluzzo, he admitted that he had forced the girl to perform some sexual acts.
He told Mongeluzzo that he also took sexually explicit pictures of the girl and forced her to perform oral sex on him.
“I don’t think I’m twisted,” the man said to the inspector.
During closing arguments, the man’s defense attorney, Assistant Public Defender Gail Grossman, said Mongeluzzo intimidated the man and forced him to admit to the allegations during the interview.
“This confession was coerced by Detective Mongeluzzo,” Grossman said.
She also said earlier in the trial that the man was forced to stay in a small interview room at the Marion County Sheriff’s Office with no food or water, sitting in an uncomfortable “government” chair.
One of the main points the defense attorney brought up during her closing argument was that the girl refused to go shopping with her adopted mother and decided to stay home alone with the man.
This fact, Grossman said, didn’t make sense since the girl testified on Thursday that the sexual abuse would only occur when she and the man were alone at home.
She also said there was no physical evidence to support the girl’s allegations.
In her closing argument, Assistant State Attorney Linda Herrick said: “The law does not allow a child to consent to these kinds of acts.”
“Clearly,” the prosecutor said, “it was lewd and lascivious what this man was doing.””
[Ocala.com 11/16/12 by Vishal Persaud]
“On the witness stand Thursday, in response to questions from prosecutor Linda Herrick, the girl went into vivid detail about how the molestation began after she was adopted by her great aunt and that woman’s husband, who is the defendant in the case.
The girl described how the man would come into the bathroom when she was taking showers and sexually molest her. The girl said this was an ongoing occurrence until she was 16.
There were other sexual encounters the girl detailed. She described one instance where she was forced to perform oral sex on the man. She said she was also forced to perform and partake in other sexually explicit activities with him.
The encounters always occurred when the girl was home alone with the man, she said.
It took nearly nine years for the girl to finally divulge the attacks to her second cousin, who eventually alerted authorities. She said she was scared to tell anyone about what her adopted father did to her, but eventually something changed.
“Somehow inside, I was just tired of it all,” the girl said
Dressed in a dark gray suit with a maroon tie, the man sat quietly between his two public defenders. His hands were folded in his lap for much of the trial. In one brief instance, he moved to wipe away tears from his eyes as his adopted daughter testified.”
Man, 87, on trial for sex abuse faces life in prison
[Ocala.com 11/15/12 by Vishal Persaud]
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