Tampa criminal court case results
- tampa criminal lawyer child abuse case results
- facts: Our client was a business man in Tampa, and the father of two young children. Tim had a younger brother, Chris, who lived in Gainesville, and also had two young children. All of the children were very close to each other in age. Whenever possible the families would visit each other so the kids could play together. The brothers were very close with each other and the children practically grew up together. One day, out of the blue, Chris's wife, Kate, asked for a divorce.
- The entire family was in shock. No one saw it coming. Over the course of the next several weeks, Chris moved out of their home in Gainesville back down to Tampa. He soon came to find out that she was having an affair with her boss at work. Chris agreed to the divorce, but they began to argue over the issue of child custody. Kate wanted primary custody of the children, but Chris insisted on joint custody. As the debate over these custody issues became more and more heated, Kate began accusing Chris of verbal and emotional abuse.
- There was no history of abuse in the relationship, and Chris began to suspect that Kate's divorce attorney was suggesting these tactics in an effort to gain leverage in the custody dispute. At the advice of his own divorce attorney, Chris limited all communication with the Kate to issues pertaining directly to the care and welfare of the children. Tim and his wife were very supportive of Chris. They were all shocked by Kate's behavior, and became concerned on the potential effect that the increasingly hostile divorce proceedings would have on the children. Tim and his wife arrange to throw a surprise birthday part for their daughter at their home in Tampa and invited Chris's daughter, Sasha. Chris picked up Sasha from Gainesville and brought her down to Tampa for the party. They took all of the children to Disney on Ice, and had a party back at the house afterwards. There were several other members of the family present including the children's grandparents.
- Everyone had a great time, and the children begged to see Disney on Ice again. The following week, Chris returned the children to their mother in Gainesville. A few days later, Kate made allegations that Sasha had been sexually abused by her uncle Tim over the weekend. According to Kate she was picking up Sasha from daycare when she overheard Sasha describing the abuse. It just so happened, that Kate had a tape recorder in the car. She began to interview the two year old about the alleged abuse, and turned the tape over to the Department of Children and Families. Inexplicably, Kate waited 48 hours before advising Chris of the allegations. Chris explained that he was with Sasha the entire weekend, and it was impossible for the allegations to be true. However, it was clear that Kate was determined to use these allegations in the divorce proceedings.
- defense: Fortunately, our client in this case contacted our office right away. We began to communicate with DCF and expose the true motivations behind Kate's thinly veiled false allegations. DCF is obligated to investigate each and every child abuse report that they receive. Far reaching confidentiality laws relating to child welfare investigations and make it extremely difficult to get information about the status of the investigation. However, after obtaining various consent forms and waivers from Chris we were able to obtain information regarding the case. As we suspected, the tape consisted of Kate asking very leading questions to Sasha, to which Sasha would give random, unintelligible responses, typical of a 2 year old. We worked closely with DCF investigators in Tampa and Gainesville, to ensure that the truth was uncovered. After several interviews with Kate, Tim, Chris, and Sasha's day care provider, as well as an examination by a child psychologist, it was clear that the story was totally fabricated. There was absolutely no evidence of abuse. This case was just an unfortunate example of the outrageous tactics that people will resort to in bitter divorce proceedings.
- results: All charges were "no-filed" and all DCF sanctions were lifted.
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