$25 million lawsuit filed against ex-Cape Coral couple, Alabama by four victims of abuse
MICHAEL BRAUN | Fort Myers News-Press
A $25 million lawsuit was filed Thursday against a former Cape Coral couple and the Alabama Department of Human Resources in a case involving alleged sexual assault, sexual abuse and molestation.
Four victims of the alleged child abuse and neglect filed the suits in Lauderdale County, Alabama Circuit Court. They are seeking millions from Jenise and Daniel Spurgeon, the State of Alabama Department of Human Resources, Department of Human Resources Commissioner Nancy Buckner and yet to be identified Department of Human Resources caseworkers.
“My clients lived a daily nightmare because DHR workers failed to do their jobs and it is appalling that DHR allowed this to happen,” said victim attorney Tommy James of Tommy James Law. “It is incomprehensible that this abuse went on for years right under the nose of DHR workers. They ignored clear and repeated signs of child abuse and neglect that resulted in emotional and physical consequences that my clients will live with forever.”
James and Birmingham attorney Jeremy Knowles of Morris Haynes represent the complainants.
The Alabama cases were filed using the victims’ initials because the claims involve sexual assault, sexual abuse and molestation. Some of the plaintiffs are minors. DHR is responsible for family services in Alabama.
The Spurgeons were arrested in July 2016 by Cape Coral police on charges of sexual and physical abuse of at least 10 adopted or foster children in their care.
Daniel Spurgeon, 51, was charged in Lee County with 15 counts, including sexual assault and lewd and lascivious behavior on a child 12-18 as well as multiple counts of aggravated child abuse.
His wife, Jenise Spurgeon, 56, was charged on 10 counts of aggravated child abuse.
Daniel Spurgeon pleaded guilty in 2019 to the crimes he committed against these victims in Alabama and was sentenced to 25 years in prison without parole. Jenise Spurgeon is awaiting trial in Lauderdale County for the crimes against the victims that are addressed in the lawsuits.
The Spurgeons will appear before Judge Robert Branning on the Lee County charges on March 5.
The Florida Department of Children and Families removed all adopted and foster children from the home at the time of the arrests.
Before they did, the 2,900-square-foot, four-bedroom home housed at least 15 people: the Spurgeons; five adopted children: daughters who were then 11, 13, 14 and two 16-year-olds; five foster children: boys 8 and 9, girls 10, 11 and 13; and three biological children, the arrest report said.
The lawsuits stem from alleged child abuse, torture and neglect in the foster/adoptive homes of the Spurgeons that occurred in Alabama and then later in Florida.
The Spurgeons were approved and licensed to be foster and adoptive parents by the Alabama Department of Human Resources and the victims were foster children and children the Spurgeons adopted who had previously been fostered by them.
In 2016, Daniel Spurgeon's Facebook timeline showed pictures of him with Jenise and children boating, on the beach and paddleboarding. Jenise's posts included news about swim meets and baking cookies. It also said she studied biology at Chatham University in Pittsburgh and her LinkedIn profile said she was a homemaker interested in health and fitness.
Daniel's LinkedIn profile says he studied information technology at Baker College in Flint, Michigan, and computer science at the University of North Alabama. He had worked as an application developer for Xerox.
The children's Facebook photos and postings showed shots of them having fun boating, on vacations, overseas and with friends and family.
After the allegations of abuse and neglect came to light, the Spurgeons were charged with numerous counts of child abuse, sexual abuse, rape, human trafficking, sexual torture and other crimes against children in Florida and Alabama.
The lawsuits allege the victims were sexually abused, physically abused, emotionally abused and verbally abused, and that they were raped, sexually and physically tortured, chronically starved, punished excessively and suffered numerous other incidents of child abuse and neglect at the hands of the Spurgeons.
The lawsuits claim the Alabama Department of Human Resources and its employees received complaints of abuse and neglect yet failed to take appropriate action and instead left the victims with the perpetrators who had inflicted the abuse upon them. According to the lawsuits, the Department of Human Resources failed to act upon numerous red flags during the many years the Spurgeons fostered and adopted these and other children.
The lawsuits claim that Department of Human Resources employees repeatedly failed to follow mandatory policies and procedures with no consequences. The lawsuits state that these violations of policy “have directly led to a crisis in Alabama’s child welfare system that has led to countless children being subjected to abuse and neglect.”
"The victims in these cases suffered the most shocking abuse imaginable as a direct result of a catastrophic failure of Alabama’s Child Welfare system," James said. "The system is broken in Alabama and it has failed these and countless other victims. There is utter chaos because caseworkers are not following DHR policies and procedures. This chaos allowed these children to slip through the cracks.”
Connect with breaking news reporter Michael Braun: MichaelBraunNP (Facebook), @MichaelBraunNP (Twitter) or mbraun@news-press.com.