30-TIME DAD IN SEX CASE STILL HAS LOCAL TIE
30-TIME DAD IN SEX CASE STILL HAS LOCAL TIE
Columbus Dispatch, The (OH) - Friday, May 24, 1991
Author: Beth Bohley Simmonds, and Jonathan Riskind, Dispatch Staff Reporters
A nationally known former Columbus man charged Tuesday with molesting a daughter in New York City has an adopted daughter who remains in Columbus, and he still owns a house on the Near East Side.
Kodzo Dobosu, 51, also known as Kojo Odo , drew national attention by adopting more than 30 children. He served as Ohio's administrator of special adoptions until September 1988.
Dobosu's daughter, a senior honor student at a Columbus high school, could not be reached for comment yesterday. She reportedly chose to remain in Columbus with a guardian when Dobosu moved to New York.
Dobosu, under the name Kojo-Mbogba Odo, has owned a 10-bedroom, six-bathroom house on Woodland Avenue since January 1985, say Franklin County records.
The house has been leased since February to WAIT, a private, non-profit women's substance abuse intervention group, said the group's director, Nancy Jones.
Jones said she has never met Dobosu and the group has no connection to him.
He is current on its taxes of $1,200 a year, say county records.
He was named father of the year by the National Father's Day Committee in 1983.
According to the New York Post, Dobosu and his 14-year-old daughter are to appear before a Manhattan grand jury next month on the molestation allegation. The grand jury is expected to vote by June 19 whether to indict him.
Barry Abbott, an attorney for Dobosu interviewed yesterday by the Post, said his client is innocent.
"My client denies these charges are true," Abbott said. "This child is a troubled child, and this incident is not the first time she's exhibited that she's a troubled child."
The Post also interviewed a 19-year-old girl who said she is one of nearly 20 children living with Dobosu in a four-story brownstone in Harlem.
That girl, who gave her name as Kianga, also said Dobosu is innocent and disputed the 14-year-old's story.
"This is the third time she has done this, and they've dropped the charges every time," Kianga said. "They will this time."
At least eight of Dobosu's other children have been interviewed by police, and none has reported being sexually abused, said the Post.
Nineteen children, ages 4 and older, live in Dobosu's house in Harlem. They are being cared for by social service workers and Dobosu's 24-year-old foster son, said the Post.
Dobosu worked as an adoption consultant to Columbia University in New York City before coming to Columbus in 1984.
He brought 28 adopted children to Columbus when he moved here in 1984 to take a $30,000-a-year job with the Ohio Department of Human Services. He adopted at least four more children while in Ohio.
Caption: Photo
Dobosu
Edition: Home Final
Section: NEWS
Page: 02D
Index Terms: KODZO DOBOSU KOJO ODO ADOPTION CHILDREN ABUSE CRIME
Record Number: 9105240003
THE COLUMBUS DISPATCH Copyright (c) 1991 The Dispatch Printing Co.