Woman Charged with Collecting $2 Million, Abusing 11 Adopted Kids

By Anastacia Mott Austin

Florida woman Judith Leekin, 62, was charged today with over 10 counts of abuse in the case of 11 children she adopted from New York.

Leekin apparently used a number of aliases and false addresses in her bid to adopt 11 children from various New York agencies between 1993 and 1996, authorities say. She had been a foster parent to some of the children found in her home before adopting them.

When police discovered an 18-year-old woman wandering the streets of St. Petersburg, Florida, she told them she had been adopted by Leekin and then abandoned. After the young woman described conditions in the home—children being handcuffed, denied use of the bathroom, and starved—an investigation was launched.

Authorities visited the home, which appeared neat and well-kept from the outside, and found eight young people, varying in age from 15 to 27, inside. All of them had scars on their wrists which they said came from being held regularly in handcuffs. In addition, they were in poor physical health and appeared to be suffering from malnutrition. They claimed to have not been allowed to attend school past fourth grade, and had not ever been to see a doctor or a dentist.

Subsidies for special-needs children, which some of the children under Ms. Leekin’s care qualified for, can reach $55 per day. Officials from the New York children’s services center told reporters they could only estimate how much money Leekin had collected over the years, but a police officer in Port Lucie, Florida, guessed the amount to be somewhere between $1.5 and $2 million.

"We haven’t gone through all her financial paperwork, but a good estimate is that she received between $1.5 and $2 million over the years," said Florida police officer Robert Vega to reporters. "And we’re not even done going through all the financial documents, so that number will likely increase."

The charges filed against Leekin included aggravated child abuse, abuse of a disabled person, and possession of an illegal driver’s license. More charges are sure to be filed as the investigation continues.

"It’s definitely an evolving case. More evidence is coming in on a daily basis," said the prosecutor in the case, Ajay Whitmore, to the press. "We’ve just scratched the surface on this."

Though fingerprinting is now used at agencies who allow foster parents to adopt, the policy has been in place only since 1999, three years after Leekin adopted the last of the children. The fingerprinting process may have revealed her various aliases, but only if she had been previously convicted of a crime.

Foster parents in New York must go through a registration process which includes a background check and home visits, but after the children are adopted, such visits are no longer required.

Neighbors of Leekin say they had no idea of what was going on in the house, and that her home was always neat and presentable, both inside and out. According to the children found in the home, they were told to hide if anyone came to the door.

Leekin’s attorney, Mario Garcia, told the press that his client said she would plead not guilty to the charges. "She indicated that she loved these children, that she took care of them," said Garcia to reporters.

Many of those found in the home appeared to have a variety of disabilities and ailments, some of which may have been caused by prolonged abuse and malnutrition. They are all now being cared for at the Department of Children and Families in Florida.

John Mattingly, commissioner for the Children’s Services Department in New York, told reporters, "It’s abhorrent," adding that his agency was working closely with authorities. Added Mattingly, "We are also doing everything possible to see how this individual was apparently able to adopt children using multiple false identities."