How Could You? Hall of Shame-Mirko and Regina Ceska 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 Crawfordsville, Florida, adoptive mother “Regina Ceska, accused of doing nothing while her husband allegedly abused their adoptive twin daughters both physically and sexually over a six-year period, was released on her own recognizance pending her trial.
She is charged with second-degree misdemeanors for failing to report abuse of a cognitively disabled or otherwise impaired adult and neglect of an adult she had care for. The twins, who were adopted when they were 11 years old, turn 22 Tuesday.
Meanwhile, her husband, Mirko Ceska, 58, was held over in jail pending his arraignment Wednesday on numerous charges of battery and sexual abuse that could cost him his freedom.
In a first appearance Monday before Wakulla County Judge Jill Walker, Regina Ceska, 55, had to surrender her expired passport, stay gainfully employed and agree to wear an active GPS monitor. She’s also to stay within the confines of Wakulla and Leon County unless she gets permission to leave from the court, and avoid contact with the alleged victims and her spouse.
Her lawyer Fred Conrad said he didn’t know whether she still had a job at Consulate Health Care of Tallahassee, a 120-bed skilled nursing care center, given the media attention to the case so far.
Jennifer Trapp, vice president of corporate communications for the parent comapny, a nationwide senior healthcare provider with offices in Maitland, said Ceska was suspended without pay Saturday pending the outcome of the investigation.
Conrad objected to her having to wear a GPS monitor because the charges against her are misdemeanors and she has criminal-free record.
“This case hinges on whether these are vulnerable adults. There is no finding in the probable cause affidavit of any disability,” Conrad said.
If anything, the fact they can raise vegetables, feed chickens, butcher hogs and weave their own wool proves the opposite.
“The (probable cause affidavit) shows they can fend for themselves better than I can,” he added.
Judge Walker said she was not ready to rule on the twins’ developmental abilities, and relied on the defendant’s own statements that the girls were not able to take care of themselves.
“I believe that is an argument for the jury,” the judge said.
The twins, who were adopted in 2008 from foster care, escaped their home on … shortly after midnight July 1 and told the Wakulla County Sheriff’s Office that they’d been held captive since their adoption.
They described their adoptive parents as “doomsday preppers” with hideaway properties as far away as Maine and Alaska and forced them to raise crops and livestock and not talk to other people.
They told detectives their father beat them regularly, and began sexually assaulted them from the time they were 16. They said their mother knew what was going on but let it happen.
When the adoptive parents filed a missing persons report, the couple told sheriff’s deputies the twins had the minds of a 14-year-old and were unable to care for themselves, Assistant State Attorney Brian Miller said.
Detectives noted they had difficulty with certain expressions and dialogue, and appeared to have “delayed cognitive functioning.”
The twins are scheduled to have psychological evaluations in October, according to the Wakulla County Sheriff’s probable cause affidavit and arrest report. They also have hearings on the domestic violence injunctions they filed. Refuge House was notified about their case.
Meg Baldwin, executive director of Refuge House, said the fact the young women were in the foster care system in the first place means they were rescued from an abusive situation.
“That experience already makes children vulnerable and isolated even within the foster care system and subsequent adoptions,” Baldwin said.
Miller said he’s handled other sexual abuses cases involving a parent or guardian, but this is different. “What makes this unique is all the doomsday prepper stuff involved,” Miller told the Tallahassee Democrat.
A search warrant of the house produced a cache of weapons and ammunition and stockpiled food. Deputies pulled 28 guns out of their home.
Because Regina Ceska is a registered nurse, she had a mandatory reporting requirement to tell the state about the alleged abuse, Miller said.
He also said he was concerned about their “active attempts to find the victims” after they left the home, including several trips and calls to the sheriff’s office and visits to the plant nursery where the young women worked.
In ordering the GPS monitor, Judge Walker said she was concerned about Regina Ceska’s ownership of several properties outside of the jurisdiction, her ability to “live off the grid,” and also the safety of the twins.
“They are very, very concerned for their lives,” Walker said. ”
Mother accused of letting husband abuse adopted twins released with GPS monitor
[Tallahasee Democrat 7/15/19 by Jeffrey Schweers]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“A statement that was later played down by their attorney Don Pumphrey, who according to the Democrat, described the couple as being ‘prepper’ for a ‘hurricane or nuclear attack’ but ‘not the Doomsday variety.’
Mirko, 58, would be charged with battery, aggravated battery, sexual assault and first degree sexual assault on minors between 12 and 18 in his custody. He was later released on $50,000 bail bond.
Regina, 55, was also released on charges, after being charged with failing to report abuse of a cognitively disabled or otherwise impaired adult and neglect of an adult in her care.
During their time living with the Ceskas, the twins claimed they were forced to carry out chores every morning at 5.30am, which included feeding farm animals, working in the garden, housework and more.
While under questioning, a detective with psychological training and the case coordinator both noted that the women appeared to become agitated when asked certain questions and seemed ‘immature’ for their age.
An account claimed that they both believed they lived in Santa Claus, the Democrat wrote, and that it was like talking to a child between the ages of 11 or 12.
The women said they had been abused when they were young and had hoped for a new life upon being adopted by the Ceskas, the site reported.
One of the twins alleged that at the age of 16 she was abused and raped by her father. She claimed that it started during a family vacation, when her father touched her breast and from there the abuse allegedly escalated into sexual intercourse on a regular basis.
The second twin said that her father started sexually touching her at the age of 18.
They claim that after Regina became aware of what was happening she took her husband’s side, and also ignored Mirko physically abusing them with his fists as well as metal objects, shoes, keys and more.
‘There have been times he would say I’m going to kill you, and she would say “back away Mirko, they’re not worth that,”‘ one twin alleged, according to the Democrat.
Pumphrey says the Ceskas never hurt the children in any way.
The twins say that food was used as a punishment and was regularly withheld if they refused to have sex with Mirko or let him grope them, the Democrat reported.
During the police’s raid of the Ceska’s home on July 12, they found a homemade videotape that showed Mirko screaming at the twins while holding a food wrapper.
The twins also claimed that Mirko would wipe food on the floor before forcing them to eat it and other times refused them meals entirely.
‘They also told us not to talk about what happened at home and to keep quiet, but I’m not going to do that,’ one of the twins said.
Pumphrey continues to deny the couple did any of the incidents alleged by the twins.
‘My understanding is they’re 22 with a lot of problems but absolutely know what they’re doing,’ he told the Democrat.
Regina’s attorney Fred Conrad believes the case outcome will depend on whether the twins are deemed disabled, considered to be vulnerable adults or able to live on their own.
‘We’ve just got the tip of the iceberg here,’ Conrad told the Democrat. ‘These are nothing but a nice, tight-knit family that love each other very much and their world has been turned upside down.’
Law enforcement officials have since sent items away for crime lab analysis including condoms and pregnancy kits found in the parents bedroom and bedding.
The Ceskas have made their first appearances at Wakulla County court and have both since been released them on bond. Prosecutors have 175 days from the date of the Ceskas’ arrest to finish the investigation, file the charges and go to trial.
The twins are reported to be happy where their adoptive parents cannot find them.
‘We don’t have to see him anymore.’ one twin said, the Democrat reported. ‘We don’t have to get punished for what I do… I can eat when I want to eat. I can watch TV and play games.’ ”
[Daily Mail 7/27/19 by Josh Saunders]
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