Sometimes, what’s in the news about a high-profile criminal case isn’t what actually happened. But all it can take is a sensational headline or two to damage your reputation and personal relationships.
In a recent local example, a Frank & Juengel Law Group, PC client was accused of child abuse and neglect after one of her foster children claimed she had abandoned her in Texas. The fact that our client’s biological daughter claimed the client essentially traded the girl for a pet monkey caused the story to go viral, making headlines as far away as the U.K., where the Daily Mail printed stories with headlines like, “Missouri woman accused of trading her foster daughter for a MONKEY because they ‘weren’t getting along’ pleads guilty.”
However, in the end, our client pled guilty to a single charge of endangering the welfare of a child. Prosecutors agreed to drop the child abuse or neglect charges in exchange, despite initially accusing the foster mother of physically and verbally abusing her foster daughter.
Joe Flees’ Statement on the Case
Joe Flees, the woman’s defense attorney, gave a statement to the Daily Mail in a follow-up article about the case. He said there was no evidence of the supposed child-for-monkey swap. He noted that the foster child’s trip to Texas was approved by the authorities, and that his client is an experienced foster mother who made a mistake.
“[She] pled guilty to sending her foster child to a friend’s home in another state without first having traveled there and inspecting the home,” Joe wrote. “That is all she did. She should have absolutely vetted that residence, but she was unaware it was in such poor condition. Had she known its condition she would not have sent the child to stay there. The stay itself was approved by the foster team and was not concealed in any way.”
“Though the investigators chose to raise my client’s biological daughter’s claim about this monkey in their probable cause statement, that claim has no basis in fact. Not a single witness other than [my client’s biological daughter] has said that. Even the child herself said that was false.
Joe said the woman was an experienced foster mother who had taken in numerous children over the years. Despite Missouri authorities claiming that she had been accused of abuse hundreds of times, Joe noted, she had never been charged before now.
“There is no way dozens of children could have been abused and no one in the childcare system would have either known or found all those claims to be unsubstantiated,” Joe’s statement said. “Each foster child interacts with social workers, counselors, school officials, medical personnel, and family court personnel. Had my client been the person some are claiming she is, she would have been locked up long ago.”
Defense Attorneys Who Go Beyond the Headlines
News stories about allegedly abandonment of a child over a monkey may get a lot of clicks. But the courtroom is where the truth tends to come out. For that to happen, you need an experienced defense attorney ready and willing to take your case to trial instead of settling for an unjust plea bargain. At Frank & Juengel Law Group, PC, our attorneys care about the facts, not what the media has claimed about you.