Florida Judge Says State Worker Lied in Court About 5-Year-Old Girl Who Vanished

Florida Judge Says State Worker Lied in Court About 5-Year-Old Girl Who Vanished

By DANA CANEDY

Published: May 07, 2002

The juvenile-court judge assigned to oversee the case of a missing 5-year-old hotly criticized the Florida Department of Children and Families in a hearing today and said the agency misled her about the girl's welfare.

The judge, Cindy Lederman of the Miami-Dade Juvenile Court Division, said that in a hearing in March 2001 and in a report to the court last August, a caseworker, Deborah Muskelly, told her that the girl, Rilya Wilson, was thriving in her grandmother's care. But the girl disappeared in January 2001, and the agency and the grandmother with whom she lived each believed the other had been caring for her.

Barely containing her anger during the status hearing this morning, Judge Lederman sharply criticized the agency for its ''despicable'' handling of the case and for moving Rilya's sister last week from the grandmother's house to an undisclosed location without informing the court. The judge said she learned of the removal from the news.

''Why, after everything that has happened in this case, after I have been kept in the dark about the status and well being and placement of this child for one year, why would you think I would allow the department to remove this child's sibling without my consent?'' Judge Lederman said. ''What is this department hiding?''

The judge scheduled a second hearing this afternoon to address the care of Rilya's sister, 2-year-old Rodericka Wilson, but that hearing ended abruptly when a lawyer for the state agency submitted a stay order from the Third District Court of Appeals in Miami permitting the agency to keep Rodericka in protective custody. Judge John Fletcher, part of the three-judge appeals panel that granted the stay, said court rules prohibited him from commenting.

A lawyer for the Department of Children and Families referred calls for comment to the agency's communication's office, which said that the agency spokeswoman was traveling and that no one else could respond. Ms. Muskelly could not be reached.

As Florida's child welfare system has come under increasing national criticism over Rilya's case, Gov. Jeb Bush sharpened his remarks about the department today, announcing that he was appointing a committee to investigate the department and its handling of the matter.

''The recent case of Rilya Wilson has raised very troubling questions about the state's performance in protecting children in the child welfare system,'' Governor Bush said. ''In the case of Rilya, the system failed. We must guard against failure in other cases.''

Mr. Bush said the committee would focus on the adequacy of oversight and accountability within the department and report to him within a month.

A Florida child welfare advocate, Karen Gievers, said that the governor's actions did not go far enough and were too late.

''He should be ashamed of himself,'' said Ms. Gievers, an advocate and lawyer in Tallahassee who has sued the department on behalf of foster children. ''To try to hide from responsibility by creating yet another committee for yet another study is putting paper before the safety of children, and it's inexcusable.''

The case has become a thorny campaign issue for Governor Bush, a Republican, as the state Democratic Party has used it to remind the public that during his campaign in 1998 he said, ''It is no wonder that people lose faith in their government when the state can't account for the safety of abused children.''

During recent appearances, including one today at Jackson Memorial Hospital in Miami, Janet Reno, Mr. Bush's likely Democratic challenger in November, has been asked about the case. Ms. Reno, the former United States attorney general and Miami-Dade state attorney, said that Mr. Bush's panel was a good first step but that its focus was too narrow.

The committee, Ms. Reno said, should also make recommendations on preventative measures that keep youngsters out of the state's care and should address needs to retrain welfare workers, reduce counselors' caseloads, and improve the state's system for investigating abuse and neglect complaints.

''I think this is a most opportune time for Florida to come together in a nonpartisan spirit and focus on how we can provide for the future of our children,'' Ms. Reno said.

Also today, the lawyer for Rilya's grandmother, Geralyn Graham, acknowledged that she had a criminal record. The Miami Herald has reported that Ms. Graham served time in a Tennessee prison in the 1980's for food stamp fraud under the name Gerrilyn Savage. Earlier, she had been sentenced to five years' probation for grand theft in Miami-Dade. She was also diagnosed with ''a psychotic syndrome . . . reminiscent of schizophrenia,'' the paper reported.

Ms. Graham's lawyer, Maria Shohat, said her client was a caring guardian despite her past problems and criminal record and that removing Rilya's sister from her house was a way to shift blame away from the agency.

''It is power without accountability,'' Ms. Shohat said.

Karen Throckmorton, who was Rodericka's foster mother from August to December 1999, when Rodericka was placed by the state with Ms. Graham and Ms. Graham's sister, Pamela, said the Grahams did the best they could to care for both girls and noted that Geralyn Graham's criminal record was for crimes committed nearly 20 years ago.

''She's cleaned up since,'' Ms. Throckmorton said. ''I've been talking to Geralyn and Pamela and they've been crying. They're furious that they lost the first child and now Rodericka.''