Posted on 09/24/2002 4:33:03 PM PDT by TomB
TAMPA - In this real-life Cinderella story, daddy plays the role of Prince Charming.
He was the one who came to Florida two weeks ago to rescue his 7-year-old daughter, whose life was wasting away under the raging hatred of her mother's boyfriend, Tampa police said at a news conference Monday to provide more details of the neglect and abuse case.
The child's mother and her boyfriend were charged Friday.
For almost two months, the child was locked in an 8-foot- by-10-foot bedroom at the end of Harold Avenue in Tampa, a waif seen peering out of a window at kids playing in nearby yards.
She was down to 29 pounds, Detective John Yaratch told reporters. A healthy 7-year-old girl weighs about 50 pounds.
She was fed an occasional raw hot dog, hardly ever a drink, Yaratch said. She was forced to use a small closet as a bathroom. On her hip was a human bite mark. Her toes, he said, were stomped by her tormentor, her mother's boyfriend, who also had jammed a plastic bead into her ear that had to be removed by a doctor.
Occasionally, her mother would try to sneak her food, Yaratch said, but the boyfriend kept an inventory of food and would chastise the woman because the food was supposed to be for their own two children.
The child was going to die, said Yaratch, who went to New York to interview her and her father last week.
The mother had kept moving in upstate New York, denying access to her husband. She left for Florida in May.
Meanwhile, the father had secured legal custody. When he found his daughter was in Tampa, he immediately came to fetch her, Yaratch said.
The mistreatment was caused by jealousy, Yaratch said.
David LaPointe, 36, was in love with the girl's mother, Connie Warrington, 23, but he hated the affection Warrington bestowed upon her eldest daughter.
The abuse started a year ago in upstate New York, Yaratch said.
Although the state's child services department was called, social workers never took action, even after the child was hospitalized for suspected child abuse.
In May, Warrington heard she might be under investigation.
She removed her daughter from the hospital against the advice of doctors, and headed to Florida, Yaratch said.
In Tampa, the child was held out of school and slept on a stained mattress with no bedding.
By contrast, her half sister and half brother slept in a comfortable room with furniture and toys. Two weeks ago, the abused child's father bought a round-trip bus ticket in Glens Falls, N.Y., and headed south Sept. 10.
Sunday, the father told The Post-Star of Glens Falls that he and Warrington met in high school and were married in 1997, but the relationship fell apart a few months later.
The couple separated but never divorced.
The father's first glimpse of his emaciated daughter in Tampa was on Sept. 11, he said.
Whimpering, she peeked out at him from behind a wooden gate.
His mother, Linda Lamica, who accompanied him to Florida, told a reporter, ``When she heard her father's voice, she stuck her head out to see if it really was him.''
After he brought his daughter home, she was hospitalized and treated for malnutrition and dehydration. She has since regained her strength and has gained about 6 pounds. She started second grade Monday.
Meanwhile, Warrington and LaPointe remained in the Orient Road Jail Monday. Both were being held without bail.
Warrington was charged with three counts of aggravated child abuse: for allegedly withholding medical treatment, withholding food and caging the child, jail records show.
LaPointe was charged with five counts of aggravated child abuse.
The charges are first-degree felonies, with each count carrying a maximum sentence of 30 years in prison.
Warrington and LaPointe declined through jail officials to be interviewed.
Florida's Department of Children and Families is investigating and will determine who will get custody of Warrington's two other children, a 1-year-old boy and 3-year-old girl.
DCF spokeswoman Shawna Donovan said Monday that the two children do not appear to be abused. DCF has had no prior involvement with the family, she said.
Yaratch said he will always remember the girl, whose name is not being published because of the nature of the charges.
``You looked into her eyes and you cold see the emptiness,'' he said. ``Her spirit was basically not there.
``But when I saw how she looked at her dad, and the smile, I knew she would be all right down the road.''
There is a special place in Hell for these people.
Put them in general population and take all the guards out for pizza, bowling, a few beers.
It's millstone time.
Don't bother. I'd think the guards would like to see it first hand.
Paul, Paul, Paul. How many times do I have to tell you? It isn't torture, it's dicipline.
How dare "the gub'mint" tell these parents how to raise their chilren.
(As an aside, I've noticed the usual suspects are avoiding this story like the plague.)
I don't know why; doesn't starving a child nearly to the point of death make her a better person, in the long run?
Very rough.
VERY rough!
,,, if it had been the father who was reported as abusing this little girl, the social workers would have worked thru their lunch breaks.
. . .indeed, what a win-win; fulfulls his own sick pleasure. . .hurts the 'Father' and controls the Mother. . .and sends a message of fear and control to his own two. . .
. . .there are people who are simply not fit to live
No kidding!
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