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Missing Miami girl's caretaker convicted on fraud charges
©Associated Press
January 17, 2003
MIAMI -- A caregiver for a missing foster child was found guilty Thursday on four counts of fraud for using a friend's identity to buy a sport utility vehicle.
Geralyn Graham was convicted of vehicle title fraud, obtaining a vehicle by trick and two counts of forgery. She showed no reaction when the six-member jury delivered its verdict after an hour of deliberations.
Judge Daryl E. Trawick revoked Graham's bail and set sentencing for Feb. 21. State guidelines call for probation or up to a year in jail.
The fraud case represents one of four sets of charges against Graham, who has claimed Rilya Wilson was taken from her home in January 2001 by a Department of Children and Families social worker. DCF denies that. Rilya, who would now be 6, is still missing. No charges have been filed in her disappearance.
Graham's next trial, on welfare fraud charges, is set for March 3.
Prosecutors said Graham assumed the identity of longtime friend Bonnie Jean Joyner of Memphis to buy the SUV, days after state social workers realized Rilya was missing last April. In testimony, Joyner denied allowing Graham to use her identity, driver's license or Social Security card. Shown her named signed on contracts for the 2002 Mitsubishi Montero, Joyner said, "I've never seen any of these."
Graham waived her right to testify Authorities say Graham has used 46 names, 15 Social Security numbers and 13 dates of birth. She went to prison in Tennessee for welfare fraud in the 1980s.
DCF's belated discovery of Rilya's disappearance and that caseworkers had not made required visits for more than a year revealed disarray in the agency and resulted in the ouster of top administrators.
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