STATEMENT OF FACTS AND CHRONOLOGY OF
EVENTS
Frank and Iliana Fuster married in August, 1983. They lived in a house in a small
planned community outside of Miami called Country Walk. Mr. Fuster’s then
five-year-old son from a previous marriage ("NG") lived with the couple. Mr.
Fuster was self-employed in an interior decorating business.
In December, 1983, Iliana began baby-sitting for some neighborhood children to bring
some additional income into the house. As more people in the community learned that she
was available to baby-sit, she began getting more requests from parents to watch their
children, some on an occasional basis, some on a regular, ongoing basis. At the time,
Iliana was not of age to apply for a business license so Mr. Fuster did so instead. The
baby-sitting business was called the Country Walk Baby-sitting Service.
In May, 1984, a young child attending a nursery school at a synagogue in Miami reported
that a janitor at that school had sexually abused him. The case received a great deal of
media attention and Dade County prosecuting authorities were criticized heavily for
dragging their feet in the investigation. The synagogue episode also focused local media
attention on the topic of day care/sexual abuse issues more generally. The infamous
McMartin investigation was underway in California; the sex abuse investigation was
underway in Jordan, Minnesota. Nathan, Debbie. "Revisiting County Walk," Issues
in Child Abuse Accusations, vol.5,1,3, a copy of which is attached hereto for the Court’s
convenience as Exhibit A.
It is not clear what triggered the criminal investigation of the Country Walk
Baby-sitting Service. However, at some point in June, 1984, a Dade County investigator
began interviewing parents who used the service about the possibility that their children
had been victims of sexual abuse. Most parents initially turned the investigator away.
They had no such concerns.
It is clear that the investigation was fueled in part by the discovery that Mr.
Fuster had a past criminal record. He had pled guilty to a manslaughter charge in New York
State in 1969, for which he served four years. He had also been convicted in Florida in
1981 on a charge of lewd conduct with a minor. He was sentenced to probation and was still
on probation at the time this investigation began.
In mid-August, 1984, the parents of the so-called "Country Walk" children
held a meeting at the community’s central meeting hall.
On the evening of August 8, 1984, five-year-old JPC, who had attended the Country Walk
Baby-sitting service, was interviewed by an attorney for the Dade County Prosecutor’s
Office. This interview was not videotaped or otherwise recorded.
The following day, Drs. Joseph and Laurie Braga, husband-and-wife child development
specialists, began interviewing the Country Walk children. Drs. Braga had recently
identified themselves to the Dade County Prosecutor’s Office and had volunteered
their services to interview the Country Walk children. The Bragas believed that young
children should be interviewed in ways that took into consideration their special needs
and level of emotional, psychological and physical maturity.
On August 9, 1994, the Bragas interviewed JPC twice, once alone, and once with his two
year old brother, JDC. That same day, the Bragas also interviewed TL(f), TL(m), and DL. On
August 10, the Bragas interviewed BT twice, once with JPC in for the interview as well.
They also interviewed JPC again. During these interviews, all of the children denied abuse
except for JPC. JPC did make some allegations of abuse by the end of his interviews.
(9/12/85, 35 et seq.)
Mr. Fuster was arrested on August 9, 1984, for violating his probation requirements. He
was charged criminally several weeks later on several counts of sexual assault of a minor.
Iliana was arrested on August 23, 1984. She was also charged with several counts of sexual
assault of a minor.
In the weeks to follow, the Bragas spent a great many hours interviewing children. See
Exhibit B, a list of the interviews conducted by the Bragas, attached hereto and
incorporated herein.
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