Caseworker faked visit to slain child

In the latest DCF debacle, an investigator becomes the first person charged with falsifying records under a new law.

By CURTIS KRUEGER, Times Staff Writer
© St. Petersburg Times
published July 13, 2002

A state child-welfare investigator was fired and criminally charged Friday with falsely claiming she had visited the 2-year-old boy whose body was found beside I-275 this week.

The investigator, Erica Jones, reported that she visited the child on the same day police say he was killed.

Jones, 27, of Land O'Lakes, became the first person to face a felony charge under a new law that was designed to prevent caseworkers from lying.

The state Department of Children and Families, once again pledging to investigate itself, is reviewing its handling of five separate allegations of abuse in two years concerning the Polk County family of the 2-year-old boy, Alfredo Montez.

DCF and law enforcement officials say the caseworker's falsification probably did not lead in any way to Alfredo's death. A babysitter who became enraged when Alfredo soiled his pants is charged with beating the child to death.

But it is one more scandal for a department plagued by allegations of incompetence, and more grist for those who say Gov. Jeb Bush and DCF Secretary Kathleen Kearney have been unable to turn around the troubled agency.

"The supervisor will be fired and the caseworker will be prosecuted for her actions," Bush said after a speech to the Florida PTA Leadership Conference in Palm Harbor on Friday. "It's heart-breaking. It's incredible."

Kearney, who spent three days in Polk County working with police on the case, said she was "very concerned about the fact that we have an investigator who has falsified records. . . . The reality is there was no contact with Alfredo, Rheyna and the mother."

Bush and Kearney say they have worked to improve the agency by doubling the state's child protection budget, revamping training and contracting with nonprofit agencies to take over much of the department's work.

They found themselves under intense national scrutiny this spring when DCF admitted it had lost track of a 5-year-old Miami girl, Rilya Wilson.

In the case of Alfredo, DCF has been looking into his mother off and on since August 2000.

Three times DCF investigated Alfredo's mother, Jeanna Swallows, after someone called the Florida Abuse Hotline and claimed she was abusing drugs, failing to properly feed the children and beating them. Each time, DCF closed its case.

In December, a fourth complaint about Swallows and her alleged drug abuse led DCF to investigate her again.

The investigation was assigned to Jones, the woman fired by DCF on Friday.

DCF says her investigation was flawed because she failed to find all the family members and did not complete a basic assessment of the children's safety. She also did not complete her investigation, although most cases should be concluded within 60 days.

Kearney has ordered a full review of how these cases were handled, but says her own quick review suggests problems.

She said Swallows, the mother, should have been drug-tested and given heavier scrutiny, considering past allegations of drug abuse. Swallows, 21, has numerous convictions for writing bad checks and once was charged with trafficking in marijuana.

On July 1, another complaint came into the Florida Abuse Hotline, once again claiming abuse, neglect and drug use.

This was assigned to Jones, because she was in the middle of an investigation of the same family.

Jones tried to see the child that day and found no one home, according to notes that DCF believes are genuine. She later visited another family nearby.

But her notes say she returned to Alfredo's home and found him, his sister and mother. She wrote a reassuring report about this supposed visit saying: Little Alfredo was "clean & appeared happy." His 4-year-old sister, Rheyna, had "no marks/bruises or bites." Swallows denied using drugs.

Law enforcement investigators eventually realized the children were not home at the time Jones claimed to have visited. On June 28, the mother had dropped the kids off with Richard Chouquer, 23, and his girlfriend Amandy Lawrence, 22.

Police say Alfredo was killed July 1, the day Jones wrote that he was alive and with his mother.

When police confronted Jones, she admitted writing the false account a week later, after it was clear the boy was missing, authorities said.

Did this prevent police from finding the boy sooner, preventing his death?

Authorities say no, because the children were not at the home where Jones was checking.

Chouquer has been charged with murder and aggravated child abuse; Lawrence with accessory after the fact to first-degree murder. Both are jailed in Utah.

Jones, who is pregnant, was reducing her caseload and planned to quit DCF soon because her husband was being transferred out of state.

On Friday, Jones became the first person arrested under the new law that makes it a felony to falsify DCF records.

"I thought that the word would have gotten out to every worker in the department that keeping good records and seeing their children were the most important things that they could do on their job," said state Rep. Sandra Murman, R-Tampa, who sponsored the legislation.

State Rep. Nancy Detert, R-Venice, championed the falsifications law also. Asked if she ever imagined someone would violate it so soon, Detert said, "Yeah, I did. I can't say I'm surprised. And I knew I'd feel bad about it because people are overworked and they lie to cover up . . . but they're just going to have to be more honest about the fact that they don't have time to get to the cases. Just tell somebody."

Child advocate Jack Levine, president of the Center for Florida's Children, said this incident shows the system "is only as effective as the department's assiduous willingness to recruit and retain trustworthy and talented people."

Kearney said that as frustrated as she felt about the falsification, she also was upset that honest DCF employees "will be accused or they will be looked on with very disparaging eyes, when the vast majority are very dedicated."

Hornickle, the DCF public information officer in Lakeland, agreed.

"Let me tell you, this has hurt people really bad," Hornickle said. "There's a lot of anger. There's shock. You know, what am I going to hear when I go to church on Sunday?"

-- Times staff writers Stephen Hegarty, Brady Dennis and Tim Nickens contributed to this report.

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