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Mother who hid son's sexual assault gets 3 years in prison

She demanded a bribe from a man to secure her silence about her 7-year-old son's rape.

By JAMAL THALJI
Published March 4, 2007

NEW PORT RICHEY - The 31-year-old mother of three told the judge all about her new life.

She is in therapy. She has a job doing secretarial work. Her family say they've seen the change. The past - drug abuse, a rotted marriage and financial woes - was behind her.

But not all of it. She stood accused of demanding $600 from the neighbor who authorities say raped her 7-year-old boy - payment for her silence.

The man raped the boy again, authorities say, but mom reported neither attack.

She came to court Friday begging for leniency.

It was all about her.

But what about the son who was raped?

"She sells him out," Circuit Judge Joe Bulone said. "She sells his trust for $600."

For that, the judge ruled, the mother will spend three years in prison.

Her name, and the names of all the family members involved in this case, are being withheld by the St. Petersburg Times to protect the identity of the children.

The man accused in the February 2006 rapes, 49-year-old Nicholas Quiles, has pleaded not guilty to three counts of capital sexual battery.

The mother sobbed Friday afternoon as the judge spoke. After prison she will also serve two years probation for the charge of aggravated child neglect.

The defense tried to focus on the mother: her remorse, and all she has done to turn around a life consumed by drugs and chaos.

That included calling on a bizarre character witness: the defendant's ex-mother-in-law. She said her ex-daughter-in-law was getting better, and blamed her son for some of the defendant's troubles.

But when the ex-mother-in-law first met the defendant - then a nude dancer at Mons Venus in Tampa - she had this impression:

"She was the sleaziest thing in the Tampa Bay area."

The state turned the focus back on the kids: the victim, his younger brother and his older sister, who blames herself for not stopping the attacks. The victim believes he kept his younger brother from being raped, a counselor testified.

"We have an 11-year-old taking responsibility for the mother," said Assistant State Attorney Eva Vergos. "We have a 7-year-old giving himself to save the 3-year-old."

The mother was still crying when the bailiffs handcuffed her.

"Can I hug my family?" she asked.

"I don't believe so," the judge said. "The time for hugging family members is long gone."

[Last modified March 3, 2007, 20:37:38]