How Could You? Hall of Shame-Ukraine Adoptive Parent Lev Dzyuba 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 Conyers, Georgia, Ukraine adoptive parent Lev Dzyuba, 37, and  his two sisters, 21-year-old Alina Dzyuba and 26-year-old Natalia Mellon were charged “with cruelty to children and false imprisonment” of his three children –an 8-year-old girl and a 10-year-old and 12-year-old boy–who were adopted “about a year ago” from Ukraine. Lev’s wife died of cancer shortly after the adoption.

“The children have been placed into protective custody by the Division of Family and Children Services.”
“A family member of Dzyuba, Lacya Kucheryavaya, said that Mr. Dzyuba has lived at the Conyers home for about 12 years. He and his wife adopted the three Ukrainian children about a year ago, she said. Shortly afterward, Dzyuba’s wife passed away from cancer, and his two sisters stepped in.

“It is overwhelming. With his wife having passed away, he knew that he would need extra help and attention to pay attention to the kids,” said Kucheryavaya.

Kucheryavaya says the children were homeschooled by the sisters while their father worked at his air conditioning business. She believes the child cruelty and false imprisonment charges against the three are a big misunderstanding.

“I do believe justice will be served. His story will be heard and all this will be figured out, but I know that Lev would not do anything out of the ordinary or extreme,” Kucheryavaya said.

The suspects remained at the Rockdale County jail on Thursday night. They were expected to make their first court appearance on Friday.”

3 accused of child cruelty, false imprisonment

[Fox 5 8/16/13 by George Franco]
“A Rockdale County home became a prison for three children locked up in their rooms by their own father, according to investigators.

Neighbors around the home, on Hull Drive, told Channel 2’s Carl Willis that nearly everything appeared normal from the outside. The only change was that they had not seen the children in months.

“It’s a sad situation,” said neighbor Cathy Morris. “We just don’t know what’s going on behind closed doors.”

“We’re hearing this more and more,” she said. “You’ve got Ohio and different places, so it’s a little disconcerting.”

Wednesday, deputies arrested 37-year-old Lev Dzyuba and his sisters, 20-year-old Alina Dzyuba and Natalia Mellon, on suspicion of false imprisonment and cruelty to children.

A basketball hoop in the driveway, a swing set in the back yard and Dzyuba’s van from his air conditioning and heating company near the garage would hardly attract a second look.

Inside, however, investigators said the children’s rooms were far from normal.

“I don’t want to go into the details, but I’ll just say it was secured more than you would secure a room in your house normally,” said Capt. Chris Traylor.

Thursday, investigators searched the home and crawled into the crawl space to look for evidence in the home where, they said, Dzyuba’s 8, 10 and especially his 15-year-old son were held captive.

“The information we have is they haven’t been out of the house in two months,” said Traylor.

Investigators said the Department of Families and Children Services received a tip and went to the home to investigate.

They contacted the Sheriff’s Office to assist.

Once they arrived at the home, investigators said, Alina Dyzuba would not let them come inside.

They only gained entry once Lev Dzyuba returned home from work. That is when the investigators were able to speak with the children.

“When a 15-year-old child is secured in a room and he can’t get out of the room without somebody letting him out, and he’s kept in the house and unable to go outside of the house, things of that nature is what makes it criminal,” said Traylor.

Investigators said the alleged abuse was subtle and much more mental than physical.

“It has to just completely separate them from all of their peers and just be a huge impact on them to pull them out of the socialization with their friends,” said neighbor Andrew Covington.

Deputies said the treatment began about a year ago when the children’s mother passed away.

According to jail records, the father is accused of depriving the children of necessary sustenance, and his sisters are accused of causing the children excessive physical or mental pain.

The adults were taken to jail, and the children were taken into custody by DFACS.

“Prayerfully, we hope they’re in the right place with the right people,” said Morris.”

Investigators: 3 children locked up in rooms by father for months

[WSBTV 8/15/13]

“Lev Dzyuba’s wife, Larisa, died Aug. 19, 2012, according to her online obituary. [See it here]

Lev Dzyuba, Alina Dzyuba and Mellon were each charged first degree cruelty to children and false imprisonment, jail records show. All three were being held without bond late Thursday.”

Dad accused of locking up kids for months

[The Atlanta Journal-Constitution 8/15/13 by Alexis Stevens]

REFORM Puzzle Pieces

Update: Russia is now reporting on the case.

“The United States has confirmed that three people were arrested on suspicion of cruelty to their adopted Ukrainian children, a Ukrainian Foreign Ministry spokesman said Tuesday.

US media reported earlier this week that Lev Dzyuba, 37, and his sisters 20-year-old Alina Dzyuba and 26-year-old Natalia Mellon, had been arrested and charged with child cruelty and false imprisonment in Rockdale County, Georgia.

Dzyuba is an ordinary Ukrainian last name, but it was not immediately clear whether the suspect did in fact have Ukrainian ancestry.

“The US side has confirmed the arrest of Lev Dzyuba and his sisters. … It’s now up to the court to decide whether their actions constitute a crime,” said Yevhen Perebyinis, director of the information policy department at the Ukrainian Foreign Ministry.

“The adopted children have been taken into protective custody by Georgian social services,” he said, adding that the children had no physical injuries and their lives were not in danger.

A Ukrainian Embassy employee will reportedly travel to Georgia to give an assessment of the children’s health and living conditions.

A family member of Lev Dzyuba, Lacya Kucheryavaya, told television channel Fox 5 that Dzyuba and his wife had adopted three Ukrainian children a year ago. Shortly afterward, Dzyuba’s wife died of cancer, and his two sisters took care of the children and homeschooled them.

According to media reports, the children – two boys and a girl – were deprived of food and the ability to leave their rooms. Kucheryavaya said the accusations were a big misunderstanding because “Lev would not do anything out of the ordinary or extreme.””

US Arrests for Alleged Cruelty to Adopted Ukrainian Children

[Ria Novosti 8/20/13]

Ukraine is also reporting the case

http://podrobnosti.ua/power/2013/08/21/925002.html [Podrobnosti 8/21/13 Google-translated] “Ukrainian Foreign Ministry official confirmed the emergency situation with Ukrainian children in the United States and sent a consular officer to clarify the circumstances. Recall, in the town of Conyers (Ga.) arrested 37-year-old immigrant from Ukraine Lion Dziuba and his younger sisters Alina and Natalia on suspicion of abusing four children – Yura, Sergey, Oleg and Lesia. Supposedly they did not let months on the street, kept in closed rooms and even tied to their beds.

All of Leo and his late wife, Larisa three years ago adopted from the center of family upbringing “My Family” near Kiev. But the problems with education began after the death of Larissa in August, 2012.

Leo Dziuba could not cope alone with the kids, they did not listen. According to his friends, he began to suspect them of involvement in the death of Larissa and was looking for them to another family in the United States. “The American side confirms arrest of Leo Dziuba and his sisters, who lived together with adopted children in one house – according to the press service of the Foreign Ministry. – The presence or absence of corpus delicti in their actions must determine the court. Regarding children, damage or injury they do not. As the threat to life and health. ”

Three – Oleg Eshira, Lesya Grace and David gave Sergei custody of social services, the state of Georgia, where they receive all necessary assistance. The older boy Yuri Mark now lives with his grandmother, at a different address.

The Foreign Ministry said that the consular officer must determine the conditions in which children are. In addition, the problem representatives of the Embassy of Ukraine intend to speak with the leadership of the U.S. State Department.”

Article 2 Ukraine

Photos can be seen of house and family at this link http://kp.ua/daily/190813/409229/ [KP 8/19/13, Google-translated]

“Dziuba immigrant Leo and his sisters accused that they abused a girl and two boys, who were taken from the Ukrainian orphanage.
In the U.S. state of Georgia detained a 37-year-old Leo Dziuba and his sisters – 21-year-old Alina Dziuba and 26-year-old Natalia Mellon. All three face charges of abusing three adopted children from Ukraine – old girl and boys 10 and 15 years old.
Ukrainian-born Dziuba came to America 12 years ago with his wife, Larissa. In Conyers wife founded the company on installation of air conditioning and heating systems, brought the total of his son. And three years ago, decided to take the family has three children and orphans. The initiator of adoption, as they say friends, was Larissa – very kind and deeply religious woman. But in August last year, she died of cancer. Left a widower, Leo could not cope with the business and a large family, so invited the sisters to care for their children. Then the neighbors began to notice that the house is going wrong. Children do not go out into the yard, not looking out of the windows. Basketball court outside the cottage and swing all the time empty. Believe that children voluntarily locked themselves in stuffy rooms, do not go for a walk and talk with their peers, it was hard. When it took more than two months, alarmed people called the local department of family and children.
When officers knocked on the management of the house, there is hosted Alina and not let anyone over the threshold. See what’s going on, officials were able only in the evening, when the police came, and on the back of the lion.
I do not want to go into the details of what we found in the house. I can only say that the room was equipped as if the owners are too concerned about security – said Rockdale County Sheriff Eric Levett.

U.S. media report that the windows in the bedrooms of children were boarded, the door firmly locked. From the room’s father and aunt allowed them to go to the bathroom alone. Sisters and brothers, no one talked, even with each other. A 15-year-old allegedly even been tied to the bed cable. Now young prisoners transferred to the guardianship authority, and their jailers to be tried for child abuse and forcible retention of them in captivity.

The scandalous history of lively debate Americans. Most of the terrible cruelty adoptive father. But there are those who try to justify it. “That’s a lie. Lev could never hurt anyone, especially the children. Our family knows him personally, every Sunday the family went to church,” – says one of the sites a woman named Diana Nyaga. According to her, the children were very distressed in behavior, because what they could not attend school and were home-schooled. ”
One way or another, but the people are reasonable question: why did the neighbors, not teachers or representatives of the guardianship drew attention to the plight of foster children?

After becoming aware of the tragedy in the family of Butler, where his father had shot 13-year-old boy from the Donetsk region, the Ukrainian Embassy in the United States were requested to check the living conditions and the health of all children adopted by Americans. And this test seems to have been started … if our diplomats visited the family Dziuba, asked whether the fate of the children, do they know where they are now, and in what condition? Yesterday, we were not able to find out – the embassy was a holiday, no comments were promised before Monday. The press service of the Ombudsman for children Yuri Pavlenko also said they are waiting for official information.”

A search of the Rockdale County Georgia inmates shows Lev is still currently in jail.

Update 2/September 2, 2013

The sisters, Alina Dzyuba and Natalia Mellon, had bond set at “$280,000 each” At the time of this August hearing, no bond was set for Lev.

Bond hearing for 3 siblings in Rockdale child cruelty case

[My Fox DFW 8/16/13 by Carolyn Ryan]

A search of Rockdale County Georgia inmates, shows that Lev was booked on August 14,2013 and was released on August 27, 2013. Lev was charged with 3 counts of “CRUELTY TO CHILDREN-CRIMINAL NEGLIGENCE/CAUSES EXCESSIVE PHYSICAL/MENTAL PAIN – 2ND DEGREE” and 1 count of “false imprisonment.”

 

A search of Rockdale County Georgia inmates, shows that  both Alina  and Natalia were booked on August 14,2013 and was released on August 20, 2013. They have the same 4 counts as Lev.