Frank Fuster, aka Francisco Fuster-Escalona

NEWS BULLETIN

How does anyone cope with false accusations of sexual child abuse? The answer is: any way they can - as long as they do not give up hope for a more sane tomorrow.

Many victims are coerced into pleading guilty to avoid life sentences, as in the case of Ms. Iliana Flores-Fuster. Those that are strong enough to take their case to trial are easily found guilty with false evidence and sentenced to die in prison, as in the case of Mr. Frank Fuster.

For Mr. Fuster, convicted and sentenced to six life sentences with 150 mandatory years in Florida's prison system ten years ago, a it sane tomorrow" seems to be rising in the east as he and pro-bono attorneys, Mr. Arthur Cohen and Mr. Robert Rosenthal are fighting with the system to gain Mr. Fuster a complete vindication. However, the harm done and all its implications can never be fully repaired.

A TRUE STORY

While the present U.S. Attorney General, Ms. Janet Reno, was the State Attorney for Dade County, Florida, Frank was twice charged and convicted by jury, of sexual child abuse, Case No. 81-21904, and Case No. 8419728A. Frank has always denied all the charges in connection to these two cases; he firmly refused to plead guilty in exchange for very low sentences; he passed a psychological evaluation and a ten hour lie detector test; and he took both cases to trial.

Case No. 84-19728A is nationally and internationally known as the Country Walk Babysitting Case. Country Walk is a housing development in Miami. This case was used by Ms. Janet Reno to win reelection as Dade County State Attorney, and subsequently in her resume to become the U.S. Attorney General.

Case No. 81-21904

Frank and his wife Martha went to a party on Sept. 19, 1981. As they were leaving, a woman named Lydia asked them for a ride to her apartment. Frank and Martha agreed to help her, and Lydia along with her 10 year old daughter Lisa, her 6 year old son, and Lisa's friend, 9 year old Renee Rivero, got in the car. Lydia and her children were sleepy but Renee was very alert.

On the way home, Frank picked up his van from his uncle's house. His wife Martha sent Renee with him in the van to keep him awake. Both cars drove side by side during a ten minute drive to Lydia's apartment.

According to the trial transcript, after Martha and Frank left Lydia in her apartment, she told Renee, whom she was babysitting for one week, that men liked to touch little girl's private parts and that her best friend Lisa had been raped by her uncle (Lydia's brother). Then Lydia asked Renee several times if Frank had touched her body, to which Renee responded no each time.

According to Lisa and Lydia, Renee became highly obsessed with what she learned from Lydia and for three days she asked many questions about it. On Sept. 22nd, when Renee's mother returned to pick her up, she surprised everybody by accusing Frank of touching her chest area over her blouse.

Renee's mother called Frank and insulted him. She told him that Renee's grandfather, Sergeant Ray Hart of the Dade County police detective squad, Fifth Precinct, would send him to prison. Subsequently, a police officer went to Frank's house looking for him. When he was told that Frank was working, he picked up a heavy potted plant and smashed the window of Frank's customized van and scratched the van's paint. He then broke the porch lamp while threatening to kill Frank. Frank filed an official complaint against Sgt. Ray Hart, and it was then that the family charged Frank with molesting Renee. The State refused to prosecute Frank, but eventually Ray Hart found a D.A. to take the case. The State offered Frank a plea bargain of only 6 months on probation, which he firmly rejected and maintained his innocence. He was facing 15 years in prison. In vain, Frank denied the charge and passed a psychological evaluation and a ten-hour lie detector test. Frank lost his trial and was sentenced to two years probation. Twenty months, later the probation was revoked on account of the charges of his second case and the sentence was increased to 15 years in prison.

THE COUNTRY WALK CASE No. 84-19728A

By the time this second case evolved, Frank had divorced Martha and was married to Iliana Flores-Fuster. Between November of 1983 and August of 1984, Iliana provided babysitting service for her neighbors in her house at Country Walk, (with the authorization of Frank's probation officer, who stated many times his belief in Frank's innocence). Of these families, one was employed as assistants to the State Attorney, and another as high-ranking police officers. They told the Country Walk parents that Frank was on probation for "raping" a nine-year-old girl. They then started a rumor that Frank and Iliana were molesting the children currently in Iliana's care.

When the parents heard that Frank was on probation for molesting Renee, they were overcome by fear and were able to believe that their children may also have been molested. One of the parents, who had been drinking when he heard the rumor, went to Frank's house with two guns and tried to kill Iliana and Frank. He was arrested just in time outside their house. A few days later, Frank's probation was revoked. He turned himself in at the courthouse and was placed in custody. Two weeks later, Iliana was arrested.

The parents started to meet almost every day at the Country Walk Clubhouse with Lauri and Joseph Braga, a husband and wife team of self proclaimed child psychologists;' members of the news media; some politicians, and Some attorneys, under the direction of Mr. & Mrs. Landis, the two parents that were employed by the police department.

The Landises immediately filed a multimillion-dollar lawsuit and the other families soon followed their lead.

Eventually each family received up to $1,200,000-00 from Out of court settlements with the developer of Country Walk, Arvida Disney Corp, and the Country Walk Homeowner Association.

"Psychologists" Lauri and Joseph Braga were hired by Janet Reno to win the Country Walk Case. They fought each and every child, all of pre-school age, when each child denied seeing any kind of abuse. On video the children denied being abused in any way. Most of the families left the prosecution convinced by their children that no kind of abuse had ever existed, but those that stayed with the case assisted the Bragas -in brainwashing the children with rewards, coercion, threats, lies and suggestive questioning as described by such notables as Richard Ofshe, Stephen Ceci, Lee Coleman, Ralph Underwager and Maggie Bruck.

The case lacked actual physical evidence of abuse. Every child was medically examined. No sign of abuse was ever found.

Then the state attorneys and Jackson Memorial Hospital alleged, based on a new test which was later proven inappropriate, that Frank's 6 year old son had neisseria gonorrhea in his throat. The results of this test were never confirmed. Today Frank's attorneys have indisputable evidence that this was a lie fabricated to convict Frank, and created without consideration of Frank's son, who is a firm supporter of his father, and has stated under oath that his father is innocent.

The nightmarish iniquities committed by the State are far too multitudinous to account herein. The following narrative is exemplary of the proceedings. Shortly after Iliana's arrest in August 1984, she was placed in solitary confinement and maintained there for nearly a year. She was often kept naked, under medication and cruel treatment, such as sleep deprivation. For 10 months she told everyone that they were innocent'

Iliana was terrified and yet firmly fought her attorney Michael Von Zamft's efforts to get her to plead guilty and to testify against her own husband who was also innocent. Von Zamft told her that she had to remember the abuse if she was to receive a good plea agreement from the prosecutor.

Her attorney hired two psychologists, who ran their own company called "Behavior Changers", to work with her. They told Iliana that the reason she had no memories of the horrible abuse was that the experience was so horrible that her mind was burying the memories to protect her. They prescribed medication to help her sleep and visited her in her cell every day and very late at night. They often awakened her before the visits from the psychologists. Iliana was not certain of whether she was awake or asleep as she talked to them. The psychologists would then give her an account of alleged abuse and that night Iliana would have vivid nightmares about what she had been told. Iliana was not able to keep track of days or nights as this "questioning" cycle continued. She knew only that they would not let her return to sleep until she had "remembered" at least one incident of abuse. After over 20 hypnotic sessions, she became fully convinced that she had recovered repressed memories and that she had seen her husband abuse the children and that he had abused her 'too. Iliana pled guilty to crimes that she never committed and testified against her husband, accusing him of crimes that never existed. She served four years and then was deported to Honduras.

In October of 1994, Frank's attorney, Mr. Arthur Cohen, traveled to Honduras to meet with Iliana. Under oath and in front of witnesses she gave Mr. Cohen a 60 page sworn deposition, - affirming that she and Frank are innocent and explaining in detail her experience of being coerced to confess. Subsequently, a local minister named Tommy Watson, whose church, The First Baptist Church of Perrine, had been sending Iliana a check each month since her deportation, for reasons unknown, boarded a plane to Honduras and returned with a one page retraction of Iliana's sixty page recantation????????

Frank's supporters were befuddled with this rash about-face by Iliana, but vowed to continue the struggle until Frank is vindicated.

Amidst the nation's child abuse hysteria, Country Walk was the first successful conviction of its kind in Florida. A conviction not based on physical evidence but video-taped children's testimony and hearsay, including tales of flying, devil worshipping, animal sacrifices, snakes on genitalia etc. The case bore remarkable similarity to the California McMartin Pre-school scandal and Kelly Michael's seven year nightmare in New Jersey. (Frank's attorney, Robert Rosenthal, gained Kelly a reversal.)

Despite the seemingly insurmountable adversity, Frank refused the state's offer to plead guilty in exchange for 15 years in prison running together with the same 15 years that he had already received in his first case. He lost his trial and was sentenced to 150 mandatory years and 6 life sentences.

Someone wrote a book echoing the state's charges against the Fusters, which eventually ended up is a TV movie, also called "Unspeakable Acts". The case has been milked in many ways and by many people, including U. S. Attorney General Janet Reno.

In prison, despite beatings and attempts on his life, including a stabbing at Hendry Correctional Institution, Frank invests his time helping himself and other inmates. He wants to clear his name of both cases before he dies, not only for his own sake, but also for the sake of the truth, the children and society. The children have suffered under a false belief which must be corrected. He wants to help all the victims of false charges of sexual child abuse and has his mind full of positive plans in this direction.

Frank Fuster has a significant group of supporters. People that know he is not a pedophile, and people that, after having investigated his two cases, came to the firm conclusion that Frank is a victim of national hysteria as were the Jordan Seven, Kelly Michaels, the McMartins and the Souzas to name a few. Frank and his supporters are presently receiving moral support from people nationwide. You may offer your moral support to Frank by writing to:

The Frank Fuster Defense Team

P.O. Box 1041

Jupiter, Florida 33468-1041

Financial support for on-going expenses is provided in part by this tax-exempt organization worthy of your support:

The Funding Exchange

666 Broadway, #500

New York, New York 10012

Tel. (212) 529-5300 (Attn: Mike Rogers)

Please make 10 copies of this bulletin and pass it on to news media, politicians, and friends. All letters will be answered.

QUOTES:

"Who's Abusing Who? Convicted eight years ago in the infamous Country Walk molestation case, Frank Fuster maintains his innocence. Maybe now a judge will listen."

Steve Almond, Miami New Times

"If this case had been tried today, Frank Fuster would have been acquitted. But eight years ago it just turned into a feeding frenzy. Frank was convicted before he ever walked in to the courtroom."

Arthur Cohen, Defense Attorney

"I was the original expert witness in the Fuster's case. I believed then, and I believe now, that Frank and Iliana did not abuse the children".

Dr. Ralph Underwager, Ph.D., Institute for Psychological Therapies

"The Honorable Janet Reno:

"My reason for writing is that I have recently begun to study the case of Frank Fuster.... I am satisfied that he is innocent of the Country Walk charges.

I like to think that history will record that the Attorney General, having perceived the excesses and studied the new evidence, risked alienating certain of her political allies, and solely in the interest of justice undertook to reevaluate her position in the primordial Country Walk Case."

Dr. Louis Daily, Ph.D. Camden County College, Psychology Dept.

"In my Opinion, your strongest lawsuit would be against Jackson Memorial Hospital for failure to follow long established guide-lines in determining venereal diseases."

"The child is told, "Let's pretend and play a game," and then statements by the child are taken as factually accurate."

Dr. Lee Coleman, MD, Psychiatrist

"I tend to believe Frank's and Lydia's and Martha's version of this story, rather than Renee's."

Mark Pendergrast, Author-Investigator

"There was something wrong with the tapes." Michael Von Zamft, Attorney

"I had to play with the original tapes." Dave Clark, Quality Broadcasting