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Aug 1, 2007 1:55 am US/Eastern
Cops: Fla. Woman's Child Neglect Part Of Big Scam
Document: Judith Leekin Took In $180,000 In Yearly Support
by Scott Weinberger
PORT ST. LUCIE, Fla. (CBS) ―
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Judith Leekin is accused of holding her adopted children in deplorable conditions, tying them together and beating or burning them.
CBS
Investigators are calling it a house of horrors. A Queens woman now living here has been accused of abuse and neglect towards the 11 children she adopted from New York City.
Police were horrified at what they discovered at the home of 62-year-old Judith Leekin. Inside, they said they found four malnourished teenagers and five adults, some mentally disabled, living like prisoners.
The worst part? They all called her mommy.
"This has to be one of the best planned, most devious operations that I've come across in almost 32 years of law enforcement," Port St. Lucie Police Capt. Scott Barta said.
It's a case that has even the police sick to their stomachs. Nine adopted victims found bruised, burned and starving. The kids, now ages 15 to 27, told police that Leekin, their adoptive mother, often handcuffed them to each other with plastic ties.
"We learned that the kids were bound together with handcuffs, with zip-ties and made to stay in that one single room" Barta said.
Police said Leekin adopted the kids in the 1990s from at least four different New York City agencies. Instead of being a loving mother she's accused of running a scam, adopting the kids only to collect the money from monthly support checks.
According to records, the kids provided the unemployed Leekin with as much as $180,000 a year.
The investigation began when police were called to a supermarket earlier this month because Leekin had apparently left an 18-year-old girl there. During a search of Leekin's home, authorities found handcuffs, zip-ties and a surveillance system.
Earlier Tuesday, John B. Mattingly, New York City's commissioner of child services, released a statement saying: "This may have happened 10-15 years ago, but we now have to make sure it doesn't happen again."
Leekin is now charged with five counts of aggravated child abuse. She's being held on $4.5 million bail.
CBS 2 HD will be here again Wednesday with all the latest.
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