Foster parents allege foul play

By ROBERT KING

Published June 20, 2004

SPRING HILL - Arthur and Lori Allain say the girl they are accused of keeping locked up and deprived of food came to them four years ago weighing 22 pounds, so small she could wear toddler clothes even though she was 61/2 years old.

They say the girl they took in as a foster child was already malnourished, suffering the effects of what appeared to be fetal alcohol syndrome and was dealing with the effects of past sexual abuse.

The Allains say they took good care of the girl, giving her three meals a day and providing medical care. They say they were victimized by lies the girl and her brother told, lies they say were believed by a Hernando County Sheriff's Office with a vendetta against them.

That is how Arthur Allain Jr., 46, and his wife Lori, 47, responded Saturday to questions about the aggravated child abuse and neglect charges filed against them Friday.

The charges came a little more than a month after the girl, now 10, was removed from the Allains' home at 14327 Hurricane Drive, northwest of Brooksville.

At the time, the girl weighed 29 pounds.

Hernando County Sheriff's spokesman Joe Paez, who saw pictures detectives shot when the girl was first taken, said her cheeks appeared hollow, her eyes sunken and her skin draped over her bones so that her ribs were exposed.

"The child was extremely undernourished," Paez said.

The report written by Detective Tom Banks said the girl told of being locked in her room and unable to get out, and that she was given a paint bucket to use as a toilet.

She told of being given only spoonfuls of food at meals and said her 14-year-old brother would sneak food to her at night because she was hungry. The brother said his sister would be kept in the room for days, Banks wrote.

The Allains, who were released Friday on $10,000 bail each, said Saturday at their daughter's Spring Hill home that the girl asked for the door lock. They said the reason was her natural brother, whom the family also took in, kept coming into her room in the middle of the night.

The Allains said the girl told them her brother had threatened to kill her if she discussed his night visits. They said they put the lock on the door to protect her.

Previously, they had told investigators the lock was to keep her brother from sneaking her food.

The Allains said the girl had an eating disorder and that she would gorge herself to the point of vomiting, a byproduct, they said, of the treatment in her original home.

"They were starved so bad when they were first born and all those years with their mother," said Arthur Allain, a truck driver whose friends know him as Tommy. "It was like a puppy. A puppy doesn't know when to stop eating."

Lori Allain told investigators that a pediatrician in Largo ordered a strict diet of three meals per day, plus snacks that are not sweet. The girl was to drink several glasses of milk a day as well as the dietary supplement Ensure.

But investigators said they found no evidence the child had been examined by a doctor in two years.

Banks reported that a gastroenterologist, two psychologists and a pediatrician examined the girl and found no eating disorder. Nurses at All Children's Hospital told investigators the girl had been eating well, without vomiting and has begun to gain weight. The doctor leading the child protection team said her problems were the result of long-term neglect.

The Allains, who had the girl for four years, said that allegation is puzzling.

Last November, when the girl's brother returned from a stint in juvenile detention, the Department of Children and Families examined their home and deemed it suitable for the boy to return to the Allains' custody. DCF could not be reached for comment Saturday.

The Allains said authorities have overstated the girl's poor condition and that just days before she was taken away, she registered at 34 pounds on a scale at a Publix store.

The Allains' four natural sons - robust boys ages 10 to 15 - were present as their parents talked about the case Saturday. A judge had put them in the temporary custody of their adult sister because of the nature of the charges.

However, the boys and their parents have been living with the sister for several weeks while their home on Hurricane Drive is remodeled. That arrangement continued Saturday.

Like their parents, the boys agreed that the girl was well fed. In many cases, they said she ate more food than they could put away.

The boys also backed up their parents' comments that the girl's bedroom door was locked only at night and that their foster siblings - the 10-year-old girl and her brother - were prone to lie.

Arthur and Lori Allain said the foster children's stressful childhoods with their birth mother have turned them into "perpetual liars."

The Allains said they knew the children when they were still with their birth mother. Records show a court terminated the mother's parental rights.

The Allains also said they have concerns about the Sheriff's Office's motivation in the case. The abuse and neglect charges are the culmination of a vendetta that began when the Allains complained of police brutality in January, they said.

The Allains said deputies investigating a youth altercation stepped on, choked and beat their four natural sons.

"We're going to hang Hernando County one way or another," Arthur Allain said. "They cannot get away with abusing children just because they are cops."

Paez, the spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said he was unaware of any abuse complaints, but would look into the matter further Monday. Still, Paez said, it was the State Attorney's Office, rather than the Sheriff's Office, that issued the warrants in the case against the parents.Foster parents allege foul play

Facing child abuse charges, Arthur and Lori Allain say they are the victims of the Hernando County Sheriff's Office and the lies of the siblings they took in.

By ROBERT KING

Published June 20, 2004

SPRING HILL - Arthur and Lori Allain say the girl they are accused of keeping locked up and deprived of food came to them four years ago weighing 22 pounds, so small she could wear toddler clothes even though she was 61/2 years old.

They say the girl they took in as a foster child was already malnourished, suffering the effects of what appeared to be fetal alcohol syndrome and was dealing with the effects of past sexual abuse.

The Allains say they took good care of the girl, giving her three meals a day and providing medical care. They say they were victimized by lies the girl and her brother told, lies they say were believed by a Hernando County Sheriff's Office with a vendetta against them.

That is how Arthur Allain Jr., 46, and his wife Lori, 47, responded Saturday to questions about the aggravated child abuse and neglect charges filed against them Friday.

The charges came a little more than a month after the girl, now 10, was removed from the Allains' home at 14327 Hurricane Drive, northwest of Brooksville.

At the time, the girl weighed 29 pounds.

Hernando County Sheriff's spokesman Joe Paez, who saw pictures detectives shot when the girl was first taken, said her cheeks appeared hollow, her eyes sunken and her skin draped over her bones so that her ribs were exposed.

"The child was extremely undernourished," Paez said.

The report written by Detective Tom Banks said the girl told of being locked in her room and unable to get out, and that she was given a paint bucket to use as a toilet.

She told of being given only spoonfuls of food at meals and said her 14-year-old brother would sneak food to her at night because she was hungry. The brother said his sister would be kept in the room for days, Banks wrote.

The Allains, who were released Friday on $10,000 bail each, said Saturday at their daughter's Spring Hill home that the girl asked for the door lock. They said the reason was her natural brother, whom the family also took in, kept coming into her room in the middle of the night.

The Allains said the girl told them her brother had threatened to kill her if she discussed his night visits. They said they put the lock on the door to protect her.

Previously, they had told investigators the lock was to keep her brother from sneaking her food.

The Allains said the girl had an eating disorder and that she would gorge herself to the point of vomiting, a byproduct, they said, of the treatment in her original home.

"They were starved so bad when they were first born and all those years with their mother," said Arthur Allain, a truck driver whose friends know him as Tommy. "It was like a puppy. A puppy doesn't know when to stop eating."

Lori Allain told investigators that a pediatrician in Largo ordered a strict diet of three meals per day, plus snacks that are not sweet. The girl was to drink several glasses of milk a day as well as the dietary supplement Ensure.

But investigators said they found no evidence the child had been examined by a doctor in two years.

Banks reported that a gastroenterologist, two psychologists and a pediatrician examined the girl and found no eating disorder. Nurses at All Children's Hospital told investigators the girl had been eating well, without vomiting and has begun to gain weight. The doctor leading the child protection team said her problems were the result of long-term neglect.

The Allains, who had the girl for four years, said that allegation is puzzling.

Last November, when the girl's brother returned from a stint in juvenile detention, the Department of Children and Families examined their home and deemed it suitable for the boy to return to the Allains' custody. DCF could not be reached for comment Saturday.

The Allains said authorities have overstated the girl's poor condition and that just days before she was taken away, she registered at 34 pounds on a scale at a Publix store.

The Allains' four natural sons - robust boys ages 10 to 15 - were present as their parents talked about the case Saturday. A judge had put them in the temporary custody of their adult sister because of the nature of the charges.

However, the boys and their parents have been living with the sister for several weeks while their home on Hurricane Drive is remodeled. That arrangement continued Saturday.

Like their parents, the boys agreed that the girl was well fed. In many cases, they said she ate more food than they could put away.

The boys also backed up their parents' comments that the girl's bedroom door was locked only at night and that their foster siblings - the 10-year-old girl and her brother - were prone to lie.

Arthur and Lori Allain said the foster children's stressful childhoods with their birth mother have turned them into "perpetual liars."

The Allains said they knew the children when they were still with their birth mother. Records show a court terminated the mother's parental rights.

The Allains also said they have concerns about the Sheriff's Office's motivation in the case. The abuse and neglect charges are the culmination of a vendetta that began when the Allains complained of police brutality in January, they said.

The Allains said deputies investigating a youth altercation stepped on, choked and beat their four natural sons.

"We're going to hang Hernando County one way or another," Arthur Allain said. "They cannot get away with abusing children just because they are cops."

Paez, the spokesman for the Sheriff's Office, said he was unaware of any abuse complaints, but would look into the matter further Monday. Still, Paez said, it was the State Attorney's Office, rather than the Sheriff's Office, that issued the warrants in the case against the parents.