The Child Protection eNewsletter

New York stymied Florida adoption inquiry in 1999…

Florida officials investigating child abuse allegations against a woman now accused in an adoption scam were stymied in 1999 because New York officials couldn't find any record of her then. Read More Judith Leekin was charged last month with abusing 11 adopted children by keeping them handcuffed and forced to soil themselves, while lining her pockets with $1.26 million in stipends she was supposed to use to care for them. Her attorney has filed a not guilty plea.

She first came to authorities' attention eight years ago, when the Florida Department of Children and Families got tipped that she was abusing children adopted from New York. Florida authorities then contacted the New York City Administration for Children's Services, according to records unsealed by a judge after The Palm Beach Post fought for their release.

In a February 22, 1999, letter to the New York agency, a Florida investigator wrote, "I am trying to locate 11 children who are reportedly in her (Leekin's) care at this time." The Florida investigator included in the letter three aliases for Leekin and two Social Security numbers and requested any information about her being a foster parent or having adopted children in New York.

The New York agency responded that it had "no active records on Judith in the system," according to the 1999 Department of Children and Families report. "Files show there may have been some type of case in the past, but does not indicate what. Would need kids' names to thoroughly search records."

The Florida agency closed the case without finding any evidence of abuse. Stacey Cason, who investigated the case for the Department of Children and Families and made the inquiry of New York officials, said she did the best job she could. She has since left the job. "I just couldn't believe it was a case I had been involved in," Cason, 33, told The Associated Press. "It's just heartbreaking."

"We're still looking into all aspects of this investigation," said Sheila Stainback, a spokeswoman for the New York City agency. She declined further comment.

Leekin, 62, of Port St. Lucie, used four aliases over two decades in New York City to adopt the 11 children, police said. She remains held on more than $4 million bail on 10 charges, including child abuse.

She is accused of handcuffing the children and tethering them together at night, forcing them to sleep on a floor and soil themselves because they weren't allowed to use the bathroom. She could face as many as 190 years in prison if convicted of all 10 counts.

The adopted children remained in Leekin's care until her arrest last month.

In other news… 

Mexico's most prominent cardinal gave a deposition in a U.S. lawsuit accusing him of complicity in the alleged rape of a child by a Mexican priest. Read More Cardinal Norberto Rivera and his lawyers rushed past reporters and photographers waiting outside offices of the Archdiocese of Mexico without giving comment. Later in the afternoon, archdiocese spokesman Reverend Hugo Valdemar Romero said Rivera gave his statement voluntarily and argued that a Los Angeles court should not be handling a case involving Mexican clergy and an alleged victim in Mexico. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles Superior Court in September, Joaquin Aguilar Mendez alleges he was raped by priest Nicolas Aguilar in Mexico City in 1994 when he was 12 years old. The alleged rape came after the priest already had been charged with 19 felony counts of committing lewd acts on a child in California. The suit alleges that Rivera conspired with Los Angeles Cardinal Roger Mahony to protect Reverend Aguilar. It accuses Rivera and Mahony of negligence, intentional infliction of emotional distress, civil conspiracy and sexual battery, and charges Aguilar with sexual battery.

The Liberian immigrant who avoided trial on child rape charges in Montgomery County, Maryland because of difficulty finding him an interpreter has been arrested again, this time for allegedly failing to appear at a hearing involving a prosecution effort to reinstate the charges. Read More Mahamu D. Kanneh, 23, of Gaithersburg was taken into custody Monday night in Philadelphia. Sexual assault charges against Kanneh were dismissed last month by a judge who ruled that delays in the case -- caused primarily by the interpreter issue -- had violated his right to a speedy trial.

A joint mission by UN and Moroccan officials is probing allegations of sexual abuse by Moroccan peacekeepers in Ivory Coast, amid mixed feelings among local people about their behavior. http://www.gulf-times.com/site/topics/ A full probe has been launched both in Ivory Coast and at UN headquarters into the allegations, which center on a 732-strong Moroccan contingent based in Bouake, the capital of the rebel zone of the country, split in half since a 2002 rebellion. The “seriousness” of the allegations prompted the UN to suspend the Moroccan peacekeeping unit involved and confine the soldiers to their camps.

Public defenders plan to challenge a new law that expands Florida's sex offender registry to include teens as young as 14 who have been convicted in the secrecy of juvenile court. Read More The law that went into effect July 1 will list those juvenile offenders, their addresses and other information on the same Web site as adults convicted as pedophiles and sexual predators. The designation will follow them and their families when they enter schools, move and apply for college and jobs.

Nine Guatemalans were indicted for their roles in an alleged sex trafficking ring that lured young women to the United States with promises of good jobs and then forced them into prostitution, according to federal court records. Read More Four of the defendants pleaded not guilty in January to sex trafficking charges in the case. A superseding indictment, unsealed Thursday, includes more serious allegations that five of the 12 victims were minors. According to the new 50-count indictment, the defendants at times sold Guatemalan women and girls to one another like slaves and allegedly brought the victims to witch doctors who threatened to put curses on them and their families if they ran away. "These young women were enticed into coming to this country by promises of the American dream only to arrive and discover that what awaited was a nightmare," said Robert Schoch, a special agent in charge for U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement.

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