TAMPA, Fla. — A brand new lawsuit describes claims of psychological, bodily, and sexual abuse towards boys beneath the care of Clearwater foster folks that date again to 1997.
Close to a dozen businesses which are tasked with protecting children protected are named as defendants within the lawsuit.
In January, Clearwater police got rid of 9 boys from that Clearwater house.
Raymond Gilbert is a former foster kid of Jacklyn and Jerold Logemann, the foster couple who is called within the lawsuit. He stated when he first arrived on the Logemann house nearly twenty years in the past, he was once inspired through the character of the massive, waterfront space.
“You go into this place and it looks really nice on the outside,” Gilbert stated.
Miguel Fawcett shared the similar feeling when he entered the house in 2012.
“I was like, it’s a mansion,” Fawcett stated.
Kyle Maskell stated the similar. Maskell is 37 years previous now however entered the Logemann house greater than twenty-five years in the past.
“When I first walked in the door, they had a pool table. They had video games. They had a workout room. They had all of this cool stuff,” Maskell stated.
The 3 males had other causes for being within the foster care device, however the tales they inform about what took place within the Clearwater house proportion worrying similarities.
“Pretty much hell in the beginning,” Maskell stated.
All 3 males and different plaintiffs within the lawsuit document little to consume, handbook hard work from solar as much as solar down, and what they idea was once most effective taking place to them, sexual abuse through their foster father.
“He was touching my shoulder and he would say like oh, can you scratch my back? So, I would scratch his back and stuff like that and he would try and caress my body and touch me,” Fawcett stated.
Maskell stated the abuse took place to him too.
“He would touch you and he would cuddle up with you and he would massage you and show you pornography,” Maskell stated.
Those identical allegations are contained in a 669-page lawsuit filed in Pinellas County.
Twenty males and children shared tales in regards to the abuse they continued within the foster house courting again to 1997.
The defendants within the case are massive kid welfare businesses just like the Department of Children and Family Services, Guardians Ad Litem, and the Logemanns.
Adam Hecht is representing the plaintiffs.
“Their stories were so similar. There was a pattern that all of these boys and men had experienced and then I came to the realization that this is real,” Hecht stated.
Hecht may be representing Crystal Ferrera. Her son lately lived within the Logemann’s house and was once got rid of.
“I was told very early on that he was refusing to see me and that the foster mother did not communicate with the family,” Ferrera stated.
She hasn’t noticed her son since 2018. The lawsuit states he skilled the similar abuse as dozens of others had for nearly 3 a long time.
(*30*) to the lawsuit, children got little to consume. In order to get extra meals, they declare they needed to give their foster folks massages.
A variety of former foster children allege the foster father would take them to some other space the place they have been sexually abused.
“This changed me forever. It killed the little Miguel. It killed the little boy,” Fawcett stated.
The Logemanns bought lawyers with Escobar and Associates in a while after Clearwater police got rid of 9 boys from their house in January and started an investigation. The investigation was once closed in April after the police leader stated they might no longer corroborate claims of felony habits.
Dino Michaels and Rene Palomino are representing the couple. Michaels stated he can not resolution whether or not the claims from the lads and sufferers themselves dangle any validity as a result of “I haven’t questioned them. I don’t know what their motive is. I don’t know what their precise statements are.”
As for his shopper, Jacklyn Logemann, he stated the accusations towards her have been all false.
“She is an upstanding citizen. She’s a model citizen. She is a person who fills a void in our society helping these children that need foster care,” Michaels stated.
Since January, ABC Action News has asked information from DCF in regards to the foster folks.
It was once requested what number of children in overall the Logemann’s have fostered and the allegations.
Initially, a consultant with DCF launched this observation:
“The heinous allegations, in this case, are troubling, and upon learning of the allegations, the Department took immediate action. We are working with law enforcement and will ensure a full investigation will take place.
The Department is launching a review of the licensing process and related concerns of this home with our contracted providers, as well as our own internal processes. This is in addition to the standard investigations conducted by the Department concerning any allegation of abuse, neglect, or abandonment.
Further details regarding the investigation are confidential per section 39.202, Florida Statutes.”
Attorneys for the Logemann’s stated that DCF additionally closed its investigation.
Hecht is constant his combat for dozens of fellows like the ones he’s representing.
“It’s got to stop. You know there has got to be a stopping point,” Gilbert stated.
“I don’t want them to ever be in the presence of another child. I don’t want nobody to experience what I did,” Fawcett stated.
Meanwhile, Hecht stated he believed there are 100 or extra males available in the market who proportion the similar tale of abuse.