Child of rape now 9, yet DCF settlement held up

It’s been almost two years since the state Department of Children and Family Services agreed to pay $1.2 million to settle a lawsuit that alleged DCF ignored complaints that a retarded Immokalee girl was being raped by her foster father until the 15-year-old gave birth to a child.

It’s been nine years since that girl was born. And it’s been six months since the foster father, Bonifacio “Bennie” Velazquez, now 73, of Immokalee was released from state prison after serving 6 1/2 years of a nine-year sentence for repeatedly raping Pierreisna Archille, now 26, who has the mental abilities of a first-grader and an IQ of 40.

But Archille hasn’t received most of the money from the settlement.

DCF has budgeted the $1.2 million, but it will take an act of the Legislature to approve paying out more than $100,000, the limit allowed under state law. DCF already admitted wrongdoing and paid that limit. If the Legislature approves a special claims bill, it would be signed by Gov. Charlie Crist.

“They need help now,” said Pierreisna Archille’s attorney, Richard Filson of Sarasota. “It’s not going to do any good getting help when Pierreisna’s child is 18. ... We just need the Legislature to approve a claims bill because the money has been budgeted by DCF.”

Meanwhile, state lawmakers last year approved paying $5 million to the parents of Martin Lee Anderson, 14, who died in 2006 after he was beaten by drill instructors at a state-sponsored boot camp. It was a case that received national attention.

Also last year, lawmakers approved a settlement giving Marissa Amora’s adoptive family $18.2 million for the role negligent DCF investigators played in her child-abuse case. That was three years after a Palm Beach County jury awarded her adoptive mother $35 million and found the state and DCF responsible for 75 percent of the damages allegedly inflicted by her biological mother’s boyfriend. She suffered brain damage after being slammed against a wall and floor less than a month after hospital workers had pleaded with DCF not to release the toddler.

But last year, the bills approving Archille’s settlement payout went nowhere.

Senate Bill 12, sponsored by Sen. Mike Haridopolos, was introduced to the Senate this month and referred to the special master on claims bills, while House Bill 223, sponsored by Rep. Peter Nehr had its first reading this month.

“This is a tragedy,” Nehr said during a telephone interview. “It’s not only a tragedy, but it’s been admitted by the DCF that it was a tragedy. They even paid out the $100,000.”

“I am pushing hard to have this bill heard,” said Nehr, who voted against the special claims bill in the boot camp case.

The Naples Daily News normally doesn’t identify victims of rape, but Darlene Achille, Pierreisna’s younger sister and legal guardian, gave the newspaper permission to identify her sister; their last names are spelled differently on birth certificates. The 9-year-old girl’s name is being withheld by the newspaper.

The three have since moved from their south Fort Myers home to Seminole County. “There are a lot of bad memories here,” Filson explained.

Archilles continues to work for Publix while her daughter goes to school. Meanwhile, Achille, who earned a bachelor’s degree at Florida Gulf Coast University, juggles responsibilities for three people while trying to establish a career for herself.

“Receiving the additional money immediately would help Pierreisna in tremendous ways,” Darlene Achille said in an email. “The money would serve as a security blanket in a very distressed economic climate.”

She fears technology will eliminate her sister’s job at Publix, where she bags groceries, because employers are converting manually operated register lanes to self service lanes, eliminating the need for cashiers and baggers. “Scary, considering all Pierreisna can do is bag groceries,” she added.

Achilles isn’t the only foster child who alleged DCF ignored complaints of sexual abuse.

Filson represents another woman allegedly molested by her foster father, 39-year-old Jeff Allen Woodring of Golden Gate, who is charged with sexual battery and lewd or lascivious molestation. Defense attorney Shannon McFee, who requested all the DCF records, has argued a teen made up the allegations against him. The case is pending in Collier Circuit Court.

Meanwhile, Filson filed a motion this month to amend Nancy G’s lawsuit filed in Collier Circuit Court against Woodring to add DCF to the list of defendants, which include Family Preservation Services, David Lawrence Mental Health Center, Ruth Cooper Center, and Children’s Network of South Florida; a judge has yet to rule on that motion.