DCF Accuses Daughter In Abuses

DCF Accuses Daughter In Abuses
By JIM TUNSTALL Published: Feb 16, 2005

INVERNESS - A visitation hearing involving the children of torture
suspects John and Linda Dollar turned heated Tuesday when a Department
of Children & Families attorney accused their adult daughter of
participating in the abuse.

``She admitted to law enforcement ... she held their heads under
water,'' DCF attorney Tiffany Koogler said of Shanda Rae Shelton.

``She locked them in a closet. She never made an attempt to help.''

In court and during a subsequent news conference, the daughter,
25-year-old Shelton, of New Port Richey, said she feared retaliation
from her adopted parents if she reported them or refused their orders.

Appearing calm on the witness stand, she explained she had held one
sibling's head under water.

``We were at a lake'' eight years ago in Tennessee, said Shelton, who
is the mother of a toddler.

``The child was wearing a life jacket and was afraid of the water.
Linda Dollar told me to dunk her, and I was afraid I'd be punished if
I didn't. I would've been on the street,'' said Shelton, who doesn't
refer to the Dollars as her parents, choosing instead to use their
first and last names.

Citrus County sheriff's Detective Lisa Wall confirmed Shelton told her
she had dunked a child but feared retaliation.

``I am astonished ... they would want to assert [Shelton] is an
unindicted co-conspirator,'' said William Grant, one of two attorneys
representing Shelton without a fee.

``She has no culpability for the tortures and horrors the [other]
Dollar children suffered.''

Koogler countered: ``She made no attempt to help'' by reporting the
Dollars to authorities.

Shelton testified that as late as age 22, when she left the house, she
lived in fear of the Dollars, who she said were both family
disciplinarians, although Linda Dollar may have had a stronger hand in
it.

``There was severe anger and threats that I would be jailed if they
were jailed,'' Shelton said.

Earlier, DCF tried to have the hearing closed to the public.

Circuit Judge Richard A. Howard refused and eventually denied
Shelton's request to immediately visit the children.

At the news conference, Shelton said her attorneys' statements that
she, too, had been physically abused amounted to ``mostly spankings
with a belt. I did not test [the Dollars'] limits.''

Authorities say five of her seven siblings found those limits. They
were severely malnourished when authorities removed them from their
home.

They ranged from a 14-year- old who was 36 pounds to a 16-year-old who
weighed less than 60 pounds.

Many had had their toenails pulled out with pliers and their feet hit
with hammers.

Asked what went wrong in the past three years, Shelton said Tuesday:
``I think John and Linda Dollar were overwhelmed with what they took
on'' by adopting eight children.

Her siblings' removal and the Dollars' arrests in Utah Feb. 4 were
ignited when Linda Dollar, 51, called 911 Jan. 21.

When paramedics arrived, they rushed the 16-year-old to a hospital
with head and neck injuries, allegedly caused when John Dollar dropped
him into a fireplace.

The couple is being held without bond and faces one count each of
aggravated child abuse/torture.

When they are booked into the Citrus County jail, probably in the next
several days, they will face more counts of the same charge, four in
Linda Dollar's case and five in her 58- year-old husband's. His
additional charge is related to the allegations surrounding the Jan.
21 incident.

They also could face charges in Hillsborough and Polk counties, where
they lived full- or part-time earlier, and in Tennessee.

All of Shelton's siblings, age 12 to 17, have been placed in area
foster homes, appear to be doing well and are attending public
schools.

A fund called the Dollar Children Trust has been created to help the
children. Donations can be made through any SunTrust bank branch.
http://www.tampatrib.com/FloridaMetro/MGBRJ03Z85E.html
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