Georgia - Coweta County
We have been given permission to post this story from Francine Edwards on our website.
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Are you a: Person with CPS case
Date of case: Current
Duration of Case: Less than one year
Give a brief description of your case, including the current status and/or outcome: My name is Francine Edwards, formerly of Coweta County, GA. I am writing so that you will know the story of how my husband, Scott Edwards and I have been the victim of malicious prosecution at the hands of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Department, Assistant District Attorney Ray Mayer and DFACS of Coweta County, Georgia.
My husband was first arrested in April of 2005 and indicted on charges of Child Molestation and Unlawful Surveillance. These charges stemmed from an incident involving a friend of my daughter, Liz Brown (now deceased). While Scott was working in our yard, the friend (a minor) came to our home without his knowledge and, with permission of my daughter, began to use our tanning bed which was located in our garage. Her testimony was that she was tanning nude, when, due to the heat, she raised the lid by a third or so, just to cool off a little. At this point, she claimed that she heard the door open, and she saw my husband standing in the doorway with a camera around his neck, a black strap and a flash from that camera. Subsequent re-creations easily demonstrated that what she described was not possible to see, especially due to the fact that she was not wearing goggles as she tanned, and would not have been able to see anything at all.
Following this supposed incident, she stayed around our house for about another half an hour, never mentioning this to Liz or my husband, before going home. When she got home, she told this fabrication to her parents who called the sheriff’s department, after which Detective Sergeant John Lewis arrived at our home, entering with a search warrant.
Within minutes of entering our home, my husband was being called a “child molester” by Sergeant Lewis in front of my daughter and me. They seized our computer, camera, memory stick and personal video tapes in hopes of recovering the alleged picture. Testimony at my husband’s trial, from a GBI video and computer expert, established that no picture did exist, or ever had existed, of this girl in a tanning bed as she claimed. This supposed photo was not found on video tapes, the computer hard drive or the video stick from our camera.
A second accusation against my husband was made by another of Liz’s friends. Her claim was that he had attempted to untie her bathing suit string while several of them were playing in our pool, located at our former home in Coweta County. She claimed he did this to her more than 5 years ago, but she continued to come to our home for years without ever mentioning anything of this. Her words, under oath, were that we were all “just horsing around.” For that action, he was charged with another count of Child Molestation, though he was never accused of improperly touching, groping, fondling or sex. I even witnessed the whole event and this certainly was not done for my husband's sexual gratification at all, at any time. Since the first trial, this same girl has changed her story more than once. Under oath on February 1, 2006 she changed her story again by saying that he not only did this to her, but he also did this to my daughter, Liz. She also said that he did not do this to her once but two times. She went on to say he did it to Liz three times. It does not matter that Liz never mentioned any of this to Sgt. John Lewis, when he questioned her. Liz also made statements to my mother, Jean Hunt that my husband, Scott never touched her in any way whatsoever in a sexual nature.
A very sad side to this concerns my daughter Liz Brown, now deceased.
Over the months leading up to the first accusation, Liz’s circle of friends had become increasingly wild and uncontrollable. They grew angrier toward us because we refused to allow Liz to stay out all hours and live a life without boundaries of any kind. We were increasingly concerned. We had caught Liz in deceptions that were instigated by these friends, the biggest of which was during spring break of 2005.
While we thought that she was with a friend’s family at the beach, she was with 3 other minors who stayed gone for a week with no adult supervision. Following my husband’s arrest, he was granted bond with the conditions that he not discuss the case with Liz.
Even though the Judge allowed Liz to stay at our home, DFACS would not allow Liz to return to our home. Because of this Liz went to the home of Darlene Bunch, mother of Liz’s friend, Kristina. During this trying time, Liz was taken to a farm in Troup County for an outing on a Saturday, under the direct care of Darlene Bunch. At some point during the day, Liz was allowed to ride a 4 wheel ATV with Kristina and ended up in an accident. She had severe internal injuries, yet was not taken to any doctor or hospital for 12 hours! She finally wound up at the Atlanta Medical Center, but the extent of her injuries caused other conditions to occur, and following several months in a coma, Liz passed away on July 29 2005. There is currently an investigation into the actual accident as to what actually happened.
During her hospital stay my ex-husband Liz’s biological father who had not EVER paid a dime of child support or wanted anything to do with her suddenly wanted to be involved with her. He made an attempt to see her at the hospital, but when I refused to allow him in her room the Doctor in charge called DFACS to report that there was a problem. DFACS took over the custody of Liz. I was informed by DFACS that my husband’s insurance would no longer be needed - that DFACS would have Liz approved to be on Medicaid. DFACS suddenly took over as to making all the decisions about Liz's medical treatments and even saying who could visit Liz and who could not. My ex husband and his girlfriend was allowed to visit Liz, but my husband was restricted to coming in her room. My husband had been a wonderful Father & supported Liz for the past 11 years never harming her in any way whatsoever. When Liz passed away DFACS quickly released the custody back to me, and refused to help pay for any part of Liz’s funeral.
Since all this has occurred DFACS has not answered any of the Coroner’s questions about custody issues involving Liz’s accident. We have also found out as far as we know that Medicaid never paid any of her hospital stay. We have been receiving letters from representatives of my husband’s insurance company basically stating that they want to be paid back for the $2 million plus medical bills for Liz. We blame not only Coweta County Sheriff’s Dept., but Coweta County DFACS for the irresponsible, and terrible decisions that were made concerning my daughter Liz, whom we will never see again, because DFACS thought she was so unsafe in our home where she had always been protected and taken care of. DFACS needs to pay for my daughter’s death. We had no control or say over preventing her untimely death at the young age of 16. What has this country come to when your child is taken away from a good safe home, and dies because DFACS thinks it is the best thing? Something needs to be done quickly before this can happen again.
Please give a list of your main criticisms: Lies, Deceit, Having the amount of power that they do.
What should be done to reform CPS? Severe penalties for their actions.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Are you a: Person with CPS case
Date of case: Current
Duration of Case: Less than one year
Give a brief description of your case, including the current status and/or outcome: My name is Francine Edwards, formerly of Coweta County, GA. I am writing so that you will know the story of how my husband, Scott Edwards and I have been the victim of malicious prosecution at the hands of the Coweta County Sheriff’s Department, Assistant District Attorney Ray Mayer and DFACS of Coweta County, Georgia.
My husband was first arrested in April of 2005 and indicted on charges of Child Molestation and Unlawful Surveillance. These charges stemmed from an incident involving a friend of my daughter, Liz Brown (now deceased). While Scott was working in our yard, the friend (a minor) came to our home without his knowledge and, with permission of my daughter, began to use our tanning bed which was located in our garage. Her testimony was that she was tanning nude, when, due to the heat, she raised the lid by a third or so, just to cool off a little. At this point, she claimed that she heard the door open, and she saw my husband standing in the doorway with a camera around his neck, a black strap and a flash from that camera. Subsequent re-creations easily demonstrated that what she described was not possible to see, especially due to the fact that she was not wearing goggles as she tanned, and would not have been able to see anything at all.
Following this supposed incident, she stayed around our house for about another half an hour, never mentioning this to Liz or my husband, before going home. When she got home, she told this fabrication to her parents who called the sheriff’s department, after which Detective Sergeant John Lewis arrived at our home, entering with a search warrant.
Within minutes of entering our home, my husband was being called a “child molester” by Sergeant Lewis in front of my daughter and me. They seized our computer, camera, memory stick and personal video tapes in hopes of recovering the alleged picture. Testimony at my husband’s trial, from a GBI video and computer expert, established that no picture did exist, or ever had existed, of this girl in a tanning bed as she claimed. This supposed photo was not found on video tapes, the computer hard drive or the video stick from our camera.
A second accusation against my husband was made by another of Liz’s friends. Her claim was that he had attempted to untie her bathing suit string while several of them were playing in our pool, located at our former home in Coweta County. She claimed he did this to her more than 5 years ago, but she continued to come to our home for years without ever mentioning anything of this. Her words, under oath, were that we were all “just horsing around.” For that action, he was charged with another count of Child Molestation, though he was never accused of improperly touching, groping, fondling or sex. I even witnessed the whole event and this certainly was not done for my husband's sexual gratification at all, at any time. Since the first trial, this same girl has changed her story more than once. Under oath on February 1, 2006 she changed her story again by saying that he not only did this to her, but he also did this to my daughter, Liz. She also said that he did not do this to her once but two times. She went on to say he did it to Liz three times. It does not matter that Liz never mentioned any of this to Sgt. John Lewis, when he questioned her. Liz also made statements to my mother, Jean Hunt that my husband, Scott never touched her in any way whatsoever in a sexual nature.
A very sad side to this concerns my daughter Liz Brown, now deceased.
Over the months leading up to the first accusation, Liz’s circle of friends had become increasingly wild and uncontrollable. They grew angrier toward us because we refused to allow Liz to stay out all hours and live a life without boundaries of any kind. We were increasingly concerned. We had caught Liz in deceptions that were instigated by these friends, the biggest of which was during spring break of 2005.
While we thought that she was with a friend’s family at the beach, she was with 3 other minors who stayed gone for a week with no adult supervision. Following my husband’s arrest, he was granted bond with the conditions that he not discuss the case with Liz.
Even though the Judge allowed Liz to stay at our home, DFACS would not allow Liz to return to our home. Because of this Liz went to the home of Darlene Bunch, mother of Liz’s friend, Kristina. During this trying time, Liz was taken to a farm in Troup County for an outing on a Saturday, under the direct care of Darlene Bunch. At some point during the day, Liz was allowed to ride a 4 wheel ATV with Kristina and ended up in an accident. She had severe internal injuries, yet was not taken to any doctor or hospital for 12 hours! She finally wound up at the Atlanta Medical Center, but the extent of her injuries caused other conditions to occur, and following several months in a coma, Liz passed away on July 29 2005. There is currently an investigation into the actual accident as to what actually happened.
During her hospital stay my ex-husband Liz’s biological father who had not EVER paid a dime of child support or wanted anything to do with her suddenly wanted to be involved with her. He made an attempt to see her at the hospital, but when I refused to allow him in her room the Doctor in charge called DFACS to report that there was a problem. DFACS took over the custody of Liz. I was informed by DFACS that my husband’s insurance would no longer be needed - that DFACS would have Liz approved to be on Medicaid. DFACS suddenly took over as to making all the decisions about Liz's medical treatments and even saying who could visit Liz and who could not. My ex husband and his girlfriend was allowed to visit Liz, but my husband was restricted to coming in her room. My husband had been a wonderful Father & supported Liz for the past 11 years never harming her in any way whatsoever. When Liz passed away DFACS quickly released the custody back to me, and refused to help pay for any part of Liz’s funeral.
Since all this has occurred DFACS has not answered any of the Coroner’s questions about custody issues involving Liz’s accident. We have also found out as far as we know that Medicaid never paid any of her hospital stay. We have been receiving letters from representatives of my husband’s insurance company basically stating that they want to be paid back for the $2 million plus medical bills for Liz. We blame not only Coweta County Sheriff’s Dept., but Coweta County DFACS for the irresponsible, and terrible decisions that were made concerning my daughter Liz, whom we will never see again, because DFACS thought she was so unsafe in our home where she had always been protected and taken care of. DFACS needs to pay for my daughter’s death. We had no control or say over preventing her untimely death at the young age of 16. What has this country come to when your child is taken away from a good safe home, and dies because DFACS thinks it is the best thing? Something needs to be done quickly before this can happen again.
Please give a list of your main criticisms: Lies, Deceit, Having the amount of power that they do.
What should be done to reform CPS? Severe penalties for their actions.
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