Abuse victim to file suit against couple, agencies

News-Press, The (Fort Myers, FL)

San Carlos Park - A young woman who as a child was a victim of sexual abuse by her former San Carlos Park foster father is filing a civil suit against him, his wife and the child welfare agencies she alleges failed to protect her.

She lived with the foster parents, Robert and Janie Jackson, from May 2003 to January 2006 after her father illegally brought the claimant and her sister to Florida from Guatemala when the claimant was 11. Both were subjected to sexual abuse, the legal documents claim. When the girl was taken in by the Department of Children and Families, she spoke an indigenous Guatemalan language and didn't speak English or Spanish well, it says.

The woman turned 18 in October 2007, documents say. She is a community college student, still lives in Southwest Florida and is working part time for the DCF, Filson said.

Filson said he sent the lawsuit, which spells out 13 counts with a total amount exceeding $195,000 in damages, to be filed in Lee County Circuit Court on Monday.

Robert Jackson, 58, was arrested in January 2006 after his wife called police after finding him without clothes on, atop their foster daughter, then 16, having sex, reports say. Jackson was released four months later after posting bail.