Letters suggest
guards had sex with teen
The notes support a Clermont
mother's claim that 2 women had trysts with her son at a
juvenile-detention center.
Erin Cox and Sarah Lundy |
Sentinel Staff Writers
Posted June 21, 2006
Sexually explicit letters released
Tuesday suggest at least two female guards had sex with a
teenager from Clermont while he was detained at an Okeechobee
juvenile-detention center.
Despite a state law that makes it a crime for guards to have sex
with a juvenile offender, an investigation was closed after
everyone -- including the young man, now 18 -- refused to
cooperate. One of the guards was later fired after she started
working for another Department of Juvenile Justice center once
the allegations arose. The other continues to work at the
Okeechobee juvenile-offender center.
The love letters, dated in April and May, are a series of steamy
handwritten notes interspersed with vivid recollections of
sexual encounters and tips for future kinky rendezvous. One of
the guards claimed she may be pregnant.
The letters have sparked allegations of a cover-up and a lawsuit
against DJJ by the teen's mother, Carla Sanders, 35, of
Clermont. She filed suit last week in Tallahassee, demanding
copies of the letters after DJJ refused to release them. Her
son, Shadow Smith, entered the juvenile-justice system when he
was 15.
The department had given at least three letters, seized after a
search of Smith's room, to investigators with the Okeechobee
Sheriff's Office who were looking into the allegations against
the guards. On Tuesday, the Sheriff's Office provided copies to
the Orlando Sentinel in response to a public-records request.
The young man's family would not comment about the situation
without Tallahassee attorney Benjamin Crump, who did not return
repeated calls. Crump also represents a family in a high-profile
case involving DJJ in which Martin Lee Anderson, 14, died while
in custody at a Bay County boot camp.
In a letter dated April 15, one author discusses tattooing the
teenager's name on her and writes: "I want my name permanently
on you . . . Because you ain't nothing but a lil playa and just
tha way I like it because you can play me as long as you want
but don't ever cheat on me behind my back sweet thang."
At a Tallahassee news conference last week, Smith's mother said
her son is mentally disabled and was originally sentenced to six
months for battery and petty theft, but his stay was extended
three years.
DJJ officials will not say when he will be released from the
96-bed maximum-security Okeechobee center, but they can decide
to keep him until he turns 21 in 2008.
His admirers don't appear to mind waiting.
" . . . I love you and you know that for yourself and ain't
nothing gone change the way I feel about you . . .," an author
wrote in another April letter.
Much of the letters' content was pornographic, but one passage
turned serious.
"I'm pregnant or at least I thank I am because I been having
symptoms and I been throwing up and I was gone go to the doctor
like you said but didn't have enough time today . . .," one of
the letters said.
Both guards denied penning them or having a sexual relationship
with Smith.
One of them, Pamela Watson, 23, thought she was being set up,
according to a report by Okeechobee sheriff's Detective Rosemary
Farless. Watson denied being pregnant and "swore the handwriting
was not hers."
Investigators found similarities between Watson's handwriting
and bubble-dotted script in letters signed with her name. She
also failed a voice-stress test.
Watson quit and took a job with another privately run DJJ
facility in March and was fired after the allegations surfaced
while still in her probationary period as a new employee.
The other guard, Sheila Snell, 26, passed her voice-stress test
and remains at the Okeechobee detention center.
After the sheriff's investigation ended, Smith voluntarily
turned over additional letters to DJJ that did not appear to be
written by either guard, according to the agency.
Neither woman could be reached for comment Tuesday evening.
Erin Cox can be reached at ecox@orlandosentinel.com or
352-742-5926. Sarah Lundy can be reached at 352-742-5917 or
slundy@orlandosentinel.com.
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