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ABBIE VANSICKLEThe Dollars say their strong religious beliefs led them to pull out toenails of five of their foster children, starve them and give them electric shocks.
INVERNESS - A Citrus County couple accused of torturing and starving five children agreed Wednesday to 15-year prison sentences, then said the crimes occurred because they took their religious beliefs too far.
"We are sorry that the children are hurt," John Dollar said. "We are firm believers in the God almighty ... because of those principles we were led to do certain things."
Those "things," prosecutors say, included pulling out the children's toenails with pliers, starving them and shocking them with a cattle prod.
John and Linda Dollar faced 150 years in prison if convicted at trial. Prosecutors say they offered a plea bargain to spare the children the pain of retelling their ordeal.
The judge had said the children, ages 13 to 17, could answer attorneys' questions in private, with the jury later watching a videotape.
"My staff and I have been advised by the clinicians at the treatment center that testifying is not in the best interest of the children," Assistant State Attorney Richard Buxman wrote in a prepared explanation. "In fact, it serves only to punish them further."
The story of the Dollars - an educated, financially stable, devout couple - shocked the local community and the nation in January when the accusations surfaced.
Their 16-year-old boy weighed 59 pounds. Twin boys, age 14, weighed 36 and 38 pounds. The children were compared to prisoners of war because of the abuse they suffered and the traumatic effects that still haunt them.
Wednesday's hearing was likely the final chapter in the criminal case, which first caught the public's eye after the Dollars' 16-year-old son was taken to a hospital emergency room with a head wound and red marks on his neck.
He was severely underweight, which sparked an investigation by the Citrus County Sheriff's Office and the Department of Children and Families.
Shortly after, the Dollar children were removed from their adoptive parents and placed in foster care.
The couple fled to Utah, where they were apprehended.
Disturbing details of the Dollars' life soon surfaced.
The family had operated a private Christian school in Tennessee, but many of the students rarely saw the Dollar children.
When the family moved to the Tampa Bay area, they changed homes frequently. Between 1990 and 2004, the Dollars bought and sold a half-dozen homes in Hillsborough County, from Plant City to Riverview to Valrico.
A closet door at one of their Hillsborough homes had a lock installed on its outside, as if it were meant to keep someone inside, not out.
A bag of what appeared to be toenails was found in the family's motorhome.
* * *
John Dollar, 59, a former corporate appraiser, and his 52-year-old wife shuffled into the courtroom of Circuit Judge Ric Howard Wednesday morning, their ankles and waists wrapped in chains.
Since their return to Florida, the couple have been held at the Citrus County jail, awaiting an Oct. 31 trial.
They were charged with five counts of aggravated child abuse, one count for each child. Their parental rights have been terminated.
The hearing was set for 10 a.m., but because of several delays it was nearly two hours later that the couple agreed to plead no contest rather than risk getting 150 years behind bars in a trial.
Under state law, the Dollars will serve a minimum of 85 percent of their sentence.
Once they are released, they will be on probation for 15 years. The couple will be housed in separate prison facilities.
Because the Dollars moved often, traveling between Tennessee and Florida in a $250,000 motorhome, it was possible they could face charges in other jurisdictions. Not now.
As part of the plea agreement, law enforcement agencies in Sevier County, Tenn., Polk County and Hillsborough County will not pursue criminal charges.
Seven of the Dollars' eight adopted children lived with the couple in Pine Ridge, a central Citrus development.
Prosecutors say five of the seven were abused. The oldest Dollar child, Shanda Rae Shelton, 26, moved out of the home a couple of years ago. She is now married and has a child of her own.
About a dozen people sat in the courtroom gallery, including Citrus Sheriff Jeff Dawsy and the lead investigator, Detective Lisa Wall. Both approved of the plea deal, prosecutors said.
The children were not there. According to prosecutors, some of the children are staying in foster homes and others are living in a residential treatment program outside of the county.
Shelton didn't attend the hearing, either. No one came in support of the couple.
* * *
The Dollars sat at the defense table as they listened to Judge Howard read the terms of the plea agreement.
The judge first read Linda Dollar's agreement. She seemed hesitant to answer, stopping the judge several times to ask questions, including whether she could serve only 85 percent of the sentence. The judge said he could make no promises.
At the end of the reading, Howard asked, "Do you want me to accept this plea?"
Linda Dollar paused, looked at her husband for a few moments, and turned back to the judge.
"Yes, sir," she replied.
The judge repeated the questions for John Dollar, who answered each quickly.
The couple then walked to a podium in the middle of the room. Linda Dollar's attorney, Michael Manning, stood by her side.
Detective Wall stood up from the audience, walked toward the couple and read a statement.
She introduced herself as the lead detective, then added, "I am also the detective whose life has been forever changed as a result of this."
She listed several people she wanted to thank, then added a surprising pair: the Dollars.
It was their religious teachings that ultimately cracked the case, she said. The Dollars said they were Baptists.
"Had your children not been taught some of the love of God or what it means to be true to him, we would not be here today," she said. "Had I not reminded your children that they had sworn not only to me but to God to tell the truth, they would have kept (the) secret that had bonded you all together."
If investigators hadn't discovered the problems within the Dollar family, at least one of the children would have died from the abuse, she said.
The Dollars then apologized for their actions and absolved the children of all responsibility, a requirement of their plea agreement.
"We love the children and we did what we thought was right," Linda Dollar said.
Howard seemed to be searching for a more satisfying answer, one that would explain what went wrong. Perhaps their childhoods held the key.
"Were either of you raised this way?" the judge asked. The Dollars both said no.
As they were led back to jail, an image from Wall's statement seemed to linger in the courtroom.
For five years, she said, the Dollar children suffered, living in a small closet with little food or love.
Now their adoptive parents will spend years in a similar space, she said, and it's the children who are finally free.
--Abbie VanSickle can be reached at 352 860-7312 or vansickle@sptimes.com