How Could You? Hall of Shame-Daniel and Jenise Spurgeon UPDATED and Lawsuits
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 Cape Coral, Florida, foster/adoptive parents Daniel and Jenise Spurgeon have “been arrested on multiple charges of sexual and physical abuse of at least 10 adopted and foster children in their care.”
“Daniel Spurgeon, 47, is in Lee County jail on nearly a half-million bond and faces 15 counts, including sexual assault and lewd and lascivious behavior on a child 12 to 18 as well as multiple counts of aggravated child abuse.
His wife, Jenise Spurgeon, 52, was released on $300,000 bond after being booked on 10 counts of aggravated child abuse.
The Florida Department of Children and Families has removed all of the adopted and foster children from the home.
Cape Coral police were told of the abuse on Sunday after they were called to a restaurant in Cape Coral for a report of intoxicated juveniles.
The report said that several extremely intoxicated teenage girls told officers that they lived with their adopted/foster parents and seven other adopted/foster children and that Daniel Spurgeon had given them the alcohol. The girls also outlined sexual and physical abuse they claimed they had experienced from Daniel Spurgeon.
A biological sister of one of the girls who had moved out of the Spurgeon home met with Cape Coral police detectives, the report said, and confirmed the alleged sexual and physical abuse by personal experience from age 12 to 16.
The report said that the Spurgeons also had three minor biological children with two at home and a third living in Brazil.
The Cape PD report said that four of the female children, ages 13 to 16, detailed sexual acts they claimed Daniel Spurgeon committed. The 13-year-old said Daniel Spurgeon did so to her for the first time on Sunday.
The sexual abuse detailed by the children in the report included being forced to watch pornography and then copy the acts, forcing the girls to drink soft drinks mixed with alcohol prior to the abuse and to perform massages on Daniel Spurgeon while he was clad only in a towel over his genital area.
Natalie Harrell, communications director for the SunCoast Region of DCF, said the agency has opened a child protection investigation into the allegations.
“The adopted and foster children in the home were placed with the family while they lived in Alabama. Since the five foster children were in the process of being adopted, they were allowed to move with the family from Alabama to Florida under the federal Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children,” Harrell said. “The foster and adopted children from Alabama are in the process of being returned to their home state. Local child protective services in Alabama will be handling appropriate placement and services for the children.”
Harrell said it was important to note that there were no Florida foster children placed in the home and that no more information can be disclosed about the case due to state child confidentiality regulations.
All of the children reported a pattern of physical abuse inside the home. They told police and DCF investigators that the physical abuse was doled out by both Spurgeons and that they were treated very differently by the couple than their biological children.
The adopted/foster children said food for the biological children was kept on the second floor of the home and they were not allowed to eat it. The only time they were allowed to eat from that supply was if the biological children didn’t want it and there were leftovers.
The adopted/foster children told investigators that if food went missing they would be blamed and punished.
The report said that the adopted/foster children described punishment ranging from being made to swim laps clothed in the pool or a canal behind the house, forced to take cold showers, smacked with spatulas, and grabbed by the arms and thrown into walls.
A 9-year-old told police he was smacked by Daniel Spurgeon across the face as hard as he could for being loud.
The report also said sleeping arrangements for some of the older girls included bedding placed on the lanai and that medical care for the adopted/foster children had not been provided for years.
Cape Coral police said the investigation was ongoing. Arraignments for the Spurgeons will be Aug. 22.”
Cape couple charged in sexual, physical abuse of children [News-Press 7/20/16 by Michael Braun]
“The couple’s 5 foster children and 5 adopted children reportedly lived off of rice, bread and beans while their biological children were fed a variety of meals throughout the day.
The couple reportedly kept two refrigerators in their home, storing her biological children’s food separately from the adopted and foster children’s.
The adopted and foster children also reported physical abuse. They told investigators the Spurgeon’s biological children were never hit or abused in the manner they were.
Fox 4 spoke to the couple’s pool maintenance person who says he never noticed anything odd about the couple.
“They seemed perfectly normal, he would come out and talk to me.”
The couple’s neighbors were also stunned by the arrests.
“Three doors down from where you live you have beautiful kids being abused,” said Bill Meyer.
Investigators were combing through the evidence at the home of Jenise and Daniel Spurgeon Tuesday afternoon.
The police report said Daniel sexually abused at least four girls in the home as recently as Sunday, and said he forced some to watch porn and copy the acts portrayed.
“I’ve shared dinner with them. They’ve been at my house. I don’t believe it. Especially any kind of sexual abuse. That blows me away. That blows me away,” Tami Caraway, the family’s next-door-neighbor, said.
Caraway describes the Spurgeons as her friends, and doesn’t believe the police report, which says some adopted kids were forced to sleep outside.
“They have beds set up on the back patio,” the family’s pool boy said.
But Caraway described an alternate explanation.
“They’ve got a little makeshift house out there, and from what I’ve always known, it’s just been a play house,” Caraway said.”
Cape foster parents arrested for sexual and physical abuse [Fox 4 Now 7/20/16 by Deborah Souverain, and Lisa Greenberg]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“A Cape Coral woman has rejoined her husband in jail on hundreds of charges of the sexual abuse of children, this time in Alabama.
Jenise and Daniel Spurgeon are wanted there for allegations of abuse against at least 11 children, both their own and fostered and adopted children.
Last July, Cape Coral Police arrested the couple for similar sex and abuse crimes against the children in Lee County. Daniel Spurgeon was arrested in July after three teens with him at a Cape Coral KFC were reportedly intoxicated. In the course of that investigation, the sexual abuse allegations came to light, which led police to Alabama where the couple was already being investigated on the same charges.
Jenise Spurgeon will be extradited to Alabama to face charges there, but her husband is staying in Lee County until his case in Southwest Florida is resolved.
Combined, the couple faces more than 700 counts of child abuse, sexual abuse, rape and many other crimes against children.
Police in Florence, Alabama, said they have enough evidence to prove the pair began abusing at least 11 children in their care well before the family moved to Florida.
“The neighborhood has moved on,” said Bill Pimm, a former neighbor in Cape Coral.
When police arrested the couple last summer on charges of physical and sexual abuse, shock rippled through his SE 11th Place neighborhood.
“It never happens in your own neighborhood, it’s horrible. It really hits home, plain and simple, and that someone would even touch another child like that, it’s appalling.” said neighbor William Meyer.
“There were 15 living here, OK, some biological, exact number? Nobody seemed to know,” Pimm said.
Jenise Spurgeon was in Lee County court Wednesday on the charges from last summer when she was arrested on the Alabama warrants, the same ones her husband is being held on.
“I didn’t even know anything had happened in Alabama until you came up. At one point, Daniel had told me that they fostered to adopt 35 kids,” Pimm said.
The couple’s alleged crimes in Alabama include rape, incest, and even human trafficking.
Neighbors want justice to be swift for the pair in Southwest Florida.
“Bring them to trial here; it’s been long enough. You knew back in July some of the older foster kids that were still around here, had been supposedly abused. That would have happened in Alabama, so this shouldn’t be a big surprise,” Pimm said.
Pimm and Meyer both lived next door to the family and said their hearts go out to the children involved.
“Kids obviously need counseling, but I would think that the biological kids also need counseling because they were in the same house,” Pimm said.
“I pray for the children that got affected, and I hope that is doesn’t effect the rest of their lives,” Meyer said.
Sun Coast Region Florida Department of Children and Families said all of the couple’s biological children are currently in the department’s custody.
The organization did open a child protection investigation last July, but cannot release further information about the case at this time.
Last summer, some of the foster children were in the process of being adopted. The Federal Interstate Compact on the Placement of Children allowed the state of Alabama to give the green light for the children to move with the family to Cape Coral.
After the Spurgeons’ July arrest, all of the fostered and adopted children returned to their home state. No Florida foster children were placed in the home.
Jenise Spurgeon will have her first appearance before a judge Thursday morning for her charges out of state.
No date has been set for her husband’s first appearance yet.”
Cape Coral woman arrested on sex abuse charges [NBC 2 3/9/17 by ]
Update 2:”Two foster parents from the Shoals are accused of hurting the children they were supposed to protect.
Florence police charged Daniel and Jenise Spurgeon with almost 700 counts of child abuse, sex abuse, rape, sodomy, sexual torture and human trafficking in March 2017.
In this I-Team investigation, WAAY 31 traveled to the Alabama Department of Human Resources headquarters in Montgomery trying to get answers on how no one noticed 11 victims allegedly suffering at the hands of the Spurgeons.
“I cannot speak directly to that,” said Barry Spear, the public information officer for Alabama’s Department of Human Resources.
Spear deflected almost every question we asked about the Spurgeon case. He cited the lack of information he provided on confidentiality laws.
“It’s not our interest to protect the parents, but we’re protecting the children, and you can’t get into the information about the parents without exposing the children,” said Spear.
We never asked a specific question about any child.
The I-Team wanted to know one thing. How many times anyone affiliated with DHR went to the Spurgeon home while they lived in Florence for 8 years. In that time they racked up almost 700 criminal charges for abusing children.
“I can’t,” said Spear.
Through the open records law we requested information about any complaints filed by foster children against the Spurgeons. We also asked how many times DHR officers visited the home.
The law requires monthly visits. DHR denied every request about that information, but we found a loophole. Police in Florida arrested the Spurgeons on similar abuse charges in 2016. Florida court documents revealed agents there requested 317 pages of Alabama DHR documents about the Spurgeons.
We were able to obtain an outline of those 317 pages of Alabama DHR documents on the Spurgeons through an open records request with Lee County, Florida.
The documents revealed at least twice DHR reviewed corporal punishment policies with the Spurgeons. One of those reviews happened in 2009.
“Corporal punishment is not allowed by foster parents. If a foster parent does use corporal punishment and we are aware of it we will talk with them and reestablish that rule. If they continue to do it and don’t stop we will pull their certification,” said Spear.
Their certification wasn’t pulled.
In 2010, one child complained she was only allowed to bathe once since she was placed with the Spurgeons in Florence. The child also said she was forced to do push ups as a form of punishment, according to court documents.
In an interview with Spear, we showed him the documents and asked him for a comment. This was his response.
“I’ve seen this before and that was a mistake in Florida. This was never allowed to be something publicly available so I can’t comment,” said Spear.
So we asked John James. He is the Family Services Director at DHR. “I thought it was one of the worst things I’ve seen in my 25 years, if not the worst,” said James.
Investigators in Florence say it’s a case where the Spurgeons beat, raped, tied up and/or abused 11 children.
One of the alleged victims told Florence police Daniel Spurgeon started beating her when she was 12. She told police, “He poured candle wax, I have scars across my chest. I have a scar on my toe where he dug a drill into it, a burn mark on my leg.”
Again, we asked Spear how agents missed signs of abuse or if agents even inspected the home. We also asked him how no one noticed signs of abuse.
“I think the answer to that question would be how does any child abuse go on in a home without people knowing about it. It happens all the time. It’s happening right now,” said Spear.
DHR told WAAY 31 there is an electronic log that catalogs every-time a social worker visits a foster home or checks on a child. It includes the dates and times of the visit. DHR said there is a log for the Spurgeons, but they wouldn’t tell us the number of visits or the frequency. So, what about the agents who made an undisclosed number of visits? Remember, some of those visits involved corporal punishment policies.
While in an interview with James we asked him if the social workers on the Spurgeon case could go through more training as a result. Spear stopped James from answering the question.
Spear cut in and said, “I am going to have to interrupt, we’re getting a little too close to the Spurgeon case.”
DHR’s own documents show more than 1,700 foster children across North Alabama in the past year. We asked James if case workers are spread too thin. He said most agents handle about 18 cases at a time but a 30% turnover rate among social workers causes a few problems.
“When we have turnover and workers leave it does require other workers to cover their caseloads until new workers can be hired and trained. So, that does present a problem in some counties when they do lose staff,” said James.
We had also sent Alabama DHR an open records request asking them if any policies would change because of the Spurgeon case and asked James that same question.
“Certainly, as a result of this case and the investigation the review that we are doing to see what we could have done better or if we could have done anything better,” said James.
DHR officials said they could not go into details about what these changes could be. Officials told us they have an expert reviewing the Spurgeon case and it could take up to four weeks to conclude their findings. They told us once the review is done they would let us know what policies could change.
Jenise Spurgeon is being held on a $2 million bond in the Lauderdale County Detention Center.
Daniel Spurgeon has not been extradited to Alabama at this time. He is sitting in a Florida jail on a $467,000 bond. He was charged in Florida with aggravated child abuse, molestation, and sexual battery.”
Court documents show foster child filed complaint against the Spurgeons while in Alabama
[Waay tv 5/8/17 by Breken Terry]
Update 3:“A Florida woman who was a foster parent in Florence for seven years was indicted Wednesday on 54 charges, including child abuse, strangulation and human trafficking, officials said.
Jenise Spurgeon, 52, Cape Coral, Florida, was charged with 43 counts of aggravated child abuse, five counts of strangulation and six counts of first-degree human trafficking, Lauderdale County District Attorney Chris Connolly said.
Spurgeon and her husband, Daniel, were foster parents in Florence for seven years and both were charged earlier this year on numerous abuse-related charges. A Lauderdale County grand jury returned the indictments against Jenise Spurgeon.
Daniel Spurgeon’s charges still are pending. He remains in a Florida jail on Florida charges and his local charges still are pending, officials said.”
Former foster parent faces 54 charges
[Times Daily 8/30/17 by Bernie Delinski]
Update 4:“Daniel Spurgeon, the man indicted on hundreds of child sex abuse charges in Lauderdale County, was extradited from Florida on Friday.
Spurgeon and his wife, Jenise Spurgeon, are accused of multiple sex crimes against foster children who were in their care while they were in the Shoals.
In July 2016, Florence police were contacted by detectives with the Cape Coral Police Department following an incident that had occurred in their jurisdiction. Their investigation led detectives to believe that the abuse happened while the couple lived in the Florence area.
The Lauderdale County Detention Center confirmed he is charged with 43 counts of aggravated child abuse, five counts of domestic violence-strangulation, nine counts of first-degree human trafficking, four counts of first-degree rape, five counts of first-degree sodomy, three counts of first-degree sexual abuse, two counts of sexual abuse with a child under the age of 12, and five counts of sexual torture.
Spurgeon is being held on $251,000 bond.
Jenise Spurgeon is scheduled to be in court on July 28. A court date for Daniel Spurgeon has yet to be set.”
Foster dad in child sex crime case extradited to Shoals
[Waff 7/14/18]
Update 5:“A foster parent facing more than 70 child sex abuse charges is back in Florence.
Daniel Spurgeon and his wife were originally facing 700 charges together. On Monday he pleaded not guilty by reason of mental disease or defect to 76 charges.
He’s facing more than 40 counts of aggravated child abuse and multiple counts of rape, sexual torture, sex abuse, sex abuse of a child under 12, sodomy, human trafficking, and strangulation.
The victims are all his and his wife Jenise’s foster or adopted children. Five of the victims were in the court room when Spurgeon’s lawyer read how he pleaded.
“It’s a standard plea when you’re facing a number of charges and the seriousness of the charges,” said Tony Hughes. “We just got involved in this case a few months ago and we’re exploring what happens so we want to keep all options on the table for right now.”
Spurgeon was brought to Florence from Florida, where he and Jenise allegedly committed the same crimes.
The criminal complaint says one child told police she has scars from being blindfolded and tortured in Spurgeon’s basement every day for years.
She allegedly told police: “When he gets a hold of a belt he doesn’t stop. So it’s terrifying when you’re 12 years old and this man is holding this power over you and there’s nothing you can do about it. It’s like being in prison.”
Spurgeon’s trial is set for October 5th. His lawyer says the trial date could be pushed back because of the number of charges.
Jenise Spurgeon is currently out on bail.”
Alleged foster parent rapist back in Florence for court
[Rocket City Now 7/16/18 by Renata Di Gregorio ]
Update 6:”A former foster parent in Lauderdale County, Daniel Spurgeon, pleaded guilty on Monday to multiple child abuse charges, according to the district attorney’s office.
Spurgeon pleaded guilty to 11 counts of aggravated child abuse, 2 counts rape first-degree of a child younger than 12 and 1 count of sexual torture. He originally pleaded not guilty by mental defect.
The maximum sentence for the aggravated child abuse charges is 20 years, and it is 25 years for the other charges. Spurgeon will be sentenced on August 12 at 9 a.m.
Spurgeon’s wife, Jenise Spurgeon, faces charges of child abuse and human trafficking. The couple is accused of abusing foster kids left in their care while they lived in Florence.”
Former Ft. Lauderdale Foster Parent pleads guilty to Child Abuse, Rape, Sexual Torture
[WAAY31Abc 7/30/19 by Ashley Thulsius ]
Update 7:“A former Florence man who authorities said spent years sexually and physically abusing children in his care will spend at least the next two decades in prison.
Daniel Wayne Spurgeon, 50, was sentenced Monday morning in Lauderdale County Circuit Court.
Spurgeon pleaded guilty last month to two counts of child rape, one count of sexual torture and 11 counts of aggravated child abuse.
Under the plea agreement reached with prosecutors, Spurgeon received 25 years on the sex abuse charges and 20 years for the other charges. The sentences will run concurrently.
With time served, Spurgeon won’t be eligible for release until 2041, since the agreement stipulates no parole.
Spurgeon and his wife Jenise were approved foster parents who lived in Florence until August 2015. In July 2016, police in Cape Coral, Fla., were called to a fast food restaurant on a report of some intoxicated teenagers. Officers found three teens who said their father had given them alcohol.
Investigators looked deeper into the case and said they discovered Daniel Spurgeon had been physically and sexually abusing the foster children.
He and his wife were brought back to Florence to face charges.
Jenise Spurgeon is charged with aggravated child abuse. Police say she choked and smacked the children and prevented them from receiving health care.
She’s set to go to trial in October.”
Daniel Spurgeon Gets 25 years in Child Rape Abuse Case
[Whnt 8/12/19]
Update 8:“A group of child abuse victims in Lauderdale County are now suing their ex-foster parents and the state’s DHR system for $25 million.
Four former foster, and adoptive, children of Jenise and Daniel Spurgeon are speaking out.
The Spurgeons were charged with multiple counts of child abuse, sexual abuse, rape, human trafficking, sexual torture and other crimes.
Daniel Spurgeon has pled guilty and was sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole. Jenise Spurgeon is awaiting trial.
The victims are suing Alabama’s Department of Human Resources. The lawsuits claim DHR and its employees received complaints of abuse and neglect– but didn’t act.
The victims’ attorney says this is all to make sure this never happens to anyone else.
We sat down with Tommy James, the victims’ attorney. James tells us he hopes some accountability will be taken for the crimes his clients endured. He adds, “You just– you can’t even imagine what these kids went through. The sexual torture, with the corporal punishment. Just beating the hell out of them. I mean, the things they were doing… I mean, they weren’t feeding them.”
Attorney, Tommy James says the victims want to call attention to violent and abusive situations like these. He says they hope this lawsuit will get Governor Kay Ivey’s attention and lead to an investigation of Alabama’s Department of Human Resources and state foster care system.”
Child Abuse Victims sue for $25 million against Alabama DHR, ex-foster parents
[Rocket City Now 2/20/2020 by Sydney Stallworth]
Update 9:“Three more victims have filed lawsuits against the Alabama Department of Human Resources and the foster couple accused of abusing them.
Each of the three lawsuits filed Wednesday seeks $25 million from the state and from Daniel and Jenise Spurgeon. Those lawsuits join another $25 million claim filed earlier this year by four other victims.
Birmingham Tommy James, who filed all of the lawsuits, says the victims suffered abuse from the Spurgeons for years while DHR ignored red flags.
The Spurgeons were foster parents approved by Alabama DHR in 2004. They lived in Florence until 2015, when they moved to Florida.
In 2016, three teens found intoxicated in a Cape Coral fast food restaurant told police their father had given them alcohol. The call led to an investigation that turned up accounts of molestation and physical abuse against the Spurgeons.
Daniel Spurgeon is serving a 25-year sentence without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to pleading guilty to two counts of child rape, one count of sexual torture and 11 counts of aggravated child abuse.
Online court records show Jenise Spurgeon’s trial is scheduled to begin Aug. 17. She’s accused of hitting the children and denying them medical care.”
More lawsuits seeking $75 million filed in Lauderdale foster parents’ abuse case
[WHNT 7/22/2020]
Update 10:“Daniel Spurgeon, 51,… received a 15-year prison sentence after he pleaded guilty to one count of sexual activity with a child and no contest to five other charges including multiple counts of lewd or lascivious molestation and child neglect. He will serve his time in Alabama where is serving time for other cases.”
Daniel Spurgeon takes plea agreement on charges including sexual assault on a child and other charges
[News-Press 12/15/2020 by Andrew West]
Update 11:“A 2016 multiple aggravated child abuse case against a former Cape Coral mother will be put on hold until August while a similar case against her in Alabama runs its course.
A pre-trial conference on Tuesday for Jenise Spurgeon, 57, before Lee County Judge Robert J. Branning, Attorney Peter Ringsmuth, representing Spurgeon, said the same issues remain as in previous hearings.
“We’ve addressed this a couple of times,” Ringsmuth said. “Spurgeon is being prosecuted in Alabama. There is an agreement between (assistant state attorney Francine) Donnorummo and myself that, no matter what happens in Alabama, once that prosecution is over this case is going to be resolved here.”
Spurgeon’s case in Lee County involves 10 charges of aggravated child abuse.
Her husband, Daniel Spurgeon, 52, was charged in Lee County with 15 counts, including sexual assault and lewd and lascivious behavior on a child 12-18 as well as multiple counts of aggravated child abuse.
He pleaded guilty in 2019 and was sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole in the Alabama case.”
Ex-Cape Coral Moms Case on hold so Alabama Can try her
[News-Press 4/20/21 by Michael Braun]
Update 12: “Jenise Spurgeon is set to go on trial in Lauderdale County on August 16.
She and her husband Daniel Spurgeon were foster parents approved by the Alabama Department of Human Resources in 2004. The couple lived in Florence until 2015 when they relocated to Florida.
It was there that an investigation began into the couple after law enforcement said three teens in their care were found intoxicated in a Cape Coral fast-food restaurant. The investigation uncovered accounts of molestation, physical abuse, and torture.
Attorney Tommy James represents seven of the victims in civil cases against the Spurgeons as well as DHR, with James saying that employees were negligent to reports of abuse.
“What these victims went through is unimaginable,” James said. “It’s unspeakable the things that the Spurgeons did to them. They’ll never be the same; they are affected by this every day. They can’t sleep, they have problems in their lives that you just can’t imagine.”
The trial was originally set to begin in August of 2020 but was postponed. James said Judge Gil Self has cleared two weeks for the criminal trial, the judge commenting that “this one needs to be brought to a head.”
In the forthcoming civil cases, James said he’s suing DHR for $ 175 million—that’s $25 million for each victim he’s representing.
Daniel Spurgeon gets 25 years in child rape, abuse case
“We ask for so much money in these cases because we do want to send a message,” James said. “We want to send a message to the public, we want to send a message to the governor, and the attorney general that something must be done with DHR because right now, it’s a catastrophic failure. There are cases of abuse and neglect going on all across our state and I’ve got way too many of them.”
James said he and the victims want to see that nothing like this happens to another child in Alabama ever again.
Daniel Spurgeon is serving a 25-year sentence without the possibility of parole after pleading guilty to two counts of child rape, one count of sexual torture, and eleven counts of aggravated child abuse.”
Trial date set for Jenise Spurgeon in foster child abuse case
[News 19 7/13/21 by Jeremy Jackson]
Update 13:“A former Florence woman who authorities said spent years abusing children in her care pleaded guilty to several counts of child abuse.
Jenise Spurgeon and her husband Daniel were charged with numerous counts of child abuse, sexual abuse, rape, human trafficking, sexual torture and other crimes against children. According to court documents, the Spurgeons’ adoptive children experienced severe abuse over a long period of time.
Jenise Spurgeon pleaded guilty to numerous counts of child abuse and neglect in a virtual hearing Wednesday afternoon.
Daniel Spurgeon pleaded guilty to two counts of child rape, one count of sexual torture and 11 counts of aggravated child abuse. He was sentenced to 25 years in prison with no chance of parole.
The civil suits against the Spurgeons and the Alabama Department of Human Resources officials are pending.
“Mrs. Spurgeon willingly participated in the abuse of these children and she deserves punishment. Now DHR needs to answer for failing these children. It is incomprehensible this abuse continued for years right under the noses of DHR workers,” said attorney Tommy James who represents seven victims in civil lawsuits. “My clients suffered unimaginable consequences because the people at DHR did not do their jobs. It is appalling they allowed this to happen.””
Florence Woman Pleads Guilty to Abusing Foster Children
[WHNT 2/2/22 by Kaitlyn Kanable]
Update 14:“A Cape Coral woman who abused her 10 foster and adopted children has been sentenced to five years in prison and 10 years of probation.
Jenise and Daniel Spurgeon were arrested in 2016 after three of their daughters escaped the home and called 911.
Daniel was sentenced in 2020 to 25 years in prison.
It was emotional in the courtroom on Friday as two of the Spurgeons’ former foster children spoke directly to the judge and to Spurgeon about the brutal abuse they faced in their home.
Jenise pleaded guilty to abusing her 10 foster children in court.
When the three girls escaped, police were able to rescue the other seven foster children, several of whom were malnourished, suffered from scabies and suffered sexual and physical abuse and were kept from medical and dental treatment for years.
One of the victims told the judge though many have heard about the horrific abuse, she and the other victims are the only ones who fully understand the impact.
“I was placed in Jenise’s custody in 2011 and that was when the nightmare began,” one of the victims said during their victim impact statement in court. “There are no words to describe the pain my sisters and I went through in the five years we were in that house. What happened to my sisters and I, no one should have to experience. We were beat, starved, and neglected at the hands of this monster who portrayed she would protect us until we were placed back in our mother’s custody.”
Jenise also pleaded guilty to charges in Alabama, where she and her husband abused their children prior to moving to Cape Coral where the abuse continued.
She has yet to be sentenced in Alabama on 11 different counts of child abuse. Her Alabama sentence will be served concurrently with the sentence in Lee County.
“After many years, we are still dealing with the trauma the Spurgeons put us through but that hasn’t stopped us. We have continued to thrive and overcome so much.”
Cape Coral woman sentenced to prison for abusing her 10 foster children
[Wink News 4/29/22 by Breana Ross]
Daniel Spurgeon has pled guilty. 25 year sentence. He s 50 years old. His wifes trial is in October, 2019.
Both Daniel and Jenise Spurgeon are members of the 2×2 religion. They were both preachers. Their preachers have a history of sexually abusing children. The 2×2 preachers require followers to allow them to live in their homes.
Brad, the article I posted says that he gets sentenced on August 12.”The maximum sentence for the aggravated child abuse charges is 20 years, and it is 25 years for the other charges”, so it may be more than 25 years.
What you say about 2×2 preachers is true. I was a victim of their abuse as a teen. Took me years to recover. They don’t acknowledge it and even their followers are so brainwashed they don’t believe it.