List naming abused children is long one

St. Petersburg Times

Author: KIMBERLY D. KLEMAN

TAMPA - Five-year-old

is one of many Tampa Bay area children who have died or suffered injuries from abuse or neglect. The state Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services (HRS) was involved in the other cases as well. HRS oversees foster homes and day-care centers.

Here is a chronology:

March 17, 1988: The director and assistant director of the Citrus Day Care Center, Edward L. Clark and Arnita Shuler, are arrested after a six-month police investigation into alleged sexual abuse of children. HRS renewed the center's operating license during the investigation.

Feb. 26, 1988: Foster parent

of Dade City is accused of sexually assaulting two foster children for two years. The children were put into the foster home in the first place because they were sexually abused in their home.     ting him with a wooden board. HRS investigated her two months before for spanking the same child.

Aug. 19, 1987: Ten-month-old Dana Walker of Bradenton is found dead of injuries she suffered when her mother's boyfriend shook her and threw her in the air, police say. Two months before, a pediatrician called HRS to say the toddler was a likely victim of child abuse. The boyfriend, Irish L. Wilson, 25, was charged with aggravated child abuse and murder.

June 27, 1987: DeAngelina Lovett, 17-months-old, dies after being struck in the stomach with a fist or a blunt object. Her mother, Naomi Lovett, was convicted of third-degree murder, manslaughter and child abuse and sentenced to 20 years in prison. At the time of the death, Ms. Lovett was being supervised by HRS because she had left her children alone while she went to work.

June 11, 1987: An

is hospitalized with a broken jaw, broken teeth, welts and bruises. His foster mother in Largo was accused of punching him. That incident occurred three months after social workers reportedly investigated another child-neglect complaint against her. The woman, Janice Faye Reliford, 33, was convicted of child abuse and sentenced to a year of probation.

June 5, 1987: George Clarke, 5, of Tampa, dies of starvation after being locked in his room for three months. Someone had called HRS in March to report the case, but a social worker failed to make contact with the boy or his parents after four tries, officials reported. The boy's father and stepmother, Barry and Melanie Clarke, pleaded guilty to first-degree murder under a plea bargain with prosecutors. Each was sentenced to life in prison without parole for at least 25 years.

June 5, 1987: Jorge Luis Stanley, a 10-month-old Tampa boy, drowns in two or three inches of water in his bathtub after his mother runs downstairs to get towels. HRS previously warned the boy's mother about neglecting her children after another child was scalded in the bathtub. The agency also counseled her. The Hillsborough State Attorney's Office investigated the case, but the findings were not available Wednesday.

March 14, 1987: Three-month-old Craig Golfin dies in filthy surroundings at his grandfather's home in northwest Manatee County. An informal complaint was made to HRS months before the boy's death.

July 21, 1985: Four-month-old

is found dead in a dirty Treasure Island foster home. At the time of his death, his foster mother, Judith Lundy, had 12 foster children in her care - three times the maximum allowed by HRS. Lundy was charged with third-degree murder and manslaughter.