Cops: Florida Woman Collected $2M in Welfare as Adopted Children Starved

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Cops: Woman Collected $2M in Welfare as Adopted Children Starved

Wednesday, August 01, 2007

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. - A Florida woman accused of using aliases to adopt

11 New York children received as much as $2 million in child welfare

payments even as she starved, bound and abused them, police said Tuesday.

Investigators initially believed Judith Leekin, 62, had adopted nine

children, but authorities in New York said Tuesday that Leekin adopted 11

children in all from New York City's foster care system between 1993 and

1996.

Authorities believe Leekin held the adopted children like prisoners in her

Port St. Lucie home, often handcuffing them together and forcing them to

soil themselves because they weren't allowed to use the bathroom.

"It's abhorrent," said John B. Mattingly, commissioner of the New York City

Administration for Children's Services.

Leekin remained jailed in lieu of $4.5 million bail on 11 charges, including

counts of aggravated child abuse, false identification and witness

tampering, as well as four counts of aggravated abuse of a disabled adult.

Leekin's lawyer said his client denies the allegations.

"She indicated that she loved these children, that she took care of them,"

Mario Garcia said. "She nurtured them and fed them."

According to the children's services administration, Leekin used aliases to

fraudulently adopt the children and had been receiving welfare payments at

different addresses and bank accounts until her arrest in July.

Florida authorities said they located a 19-year-old man Monday who was among

the 11 adopted by Leekin but had left the home two years ago. Police say

Leekin was still collecting payments from the New York agency for his care.

"He had similar stories, similar scars and marks on his body from his wrists

to his ankles where he alleges he was also handcuffed and tied to other

people," Port St. Lucie Police spokesman Robert Vega said Tuesday.

Authorities were still trying to locate an 18-year-old whom Leekin adopted

from New York, Vega said.

Police believe Leekin received as much as $2 million over the years from the

New York child welfare agency, he said.

Parents who adopt special needs children in New York City can get as much as

$55 a day until the child turns 21.

"We are working with law enforcement to provide them with all available

records to aid in the investigation," Mattingly said. "We are also doing

everything possible to see how this individual was apparently able to adopt

children using multiple false identities."

The children's services administration noted that it began fingerprinting

adults who adopted children out of foster care in 1999 - after Leekin's

adoptions were processed. The agency is searching its records from all

adoption agencies to root out any other fraudulent adoption cases, Mattingly

said.

The case came to light July 4 when an 18-year-old woman was found wandering

in a grocery store in St. Petersburg, about 200 miles away from Leekin's

home. The woman told police Leekin had adopted her 13 years ago and

abandoned her at the store that day.

Investigators found eight other children and handicapped adults, ranging in

age from 15 to 27, in Leekin's home. All had scars on their wrists, and some

had burns.

None appeared to have more than a fourth-grade education, not even the

adults in their 20s. They told authorities they had never seen a doctor or a

dentist and all were near starvation, police said.