There has been another bizarre development in Pat Lloyd's continuing battle with the State Dept. of Children & Families (DCF). Lloyd's 15-year-old son, who was placed with foster parents last March by Judge Mark Jones after the DCF and the State Attorney's Office accused Lloyd of child abuse, is back home— under house arrest.
Last week, the boy was arrested at Key West High School. The cops said he had an empty plastic baggie in his backpack that smelled like marijuana. The Lloyd boy said it wasn't his. He said a friend stuck it in his backpack without his knowledge. And, reportedly, the friend has confirmed that.
In any event, when his foster parents learned about the bust, one of them reportedly went to the school, picked up his house key from the boy and told him not to return to their home.
Ironically, the reason Lloyd, a divorced mother of three, got in trouble with the DCF in the first place is that she admitted that she couldn't control the boy and asked the DCF for help. But rather than helping her, officials accused her of being an unfit mother— because she couldn't control her son.
"Apparently, the DCF wasn't able to control him either," she said this week.
"We have filed for dismissal of all the remaining charges against Mrs. Lloyd," said Attorney Michael Barnes. "The DCF people obviously don't consider her a child abuser or they would not have returned the boy to her care."
Initially, abuse charges against Lloyd involved only her 15-year-old. But when she refused to plead guilty, the State Attorney's Office added allegations that she had also abused her two younger children, an 11-year-old son and a daughter, 7.
"Then they told me that, if I would plead guilty to the original charge, they would drop the new charges," Lloyd said. "I didn't realize it then, but I now know that piling on those new charges was just a strategy to try to coerce me to plead guilty."
When Lloyd still refused to plead guilty, the State Attorney and the DCF put her on trial last July.
"The charges completely fell apart in the courtroom," Lloyd said.
Two hours into the trial, Judge Jones stopped the proceedings and recused himself. Nine days later, the charges concerning the two younger children were dropped— and no new trial date has been set to hear charges against Lloyd concerning her older son.
At presstime, neither State Attorney Kirk Zuelch nor DCF officials had responded to a request for comment. But state law does restrict official comment on cases involving alleged child abuse.
"The DCF started getting involved in my life right after the divorce," Lloyd said. "My ex-husband began harassing me by calling the Child Abuse Hotline long distance and making false charges against me.
"Each time— maybe 20 times overall— the DCF investigated those charges and determined that they were unfounded.
"But nobody seemed to care that the guy making the calls was thousands of dollars behind in his child support payments," she said.
"Last year, it became apparent to me that I just couldn't control my 15-year-old son. He was staying out late and refusing to go to school. After he got in trouble at school, he was sent to the Children's Shelter— but he got in trouble there, too.
"I even sent him to live with his father in California. But that didn't work either. His father sent him back in March. And he continued to get in trouble.
"I needed help. So I went to the Dept. of Children & Families. I thought that's what they do— provide help for children and families. But they told me there is no help for families with out-of-control children— but that they could help if I would stipulate that I am an unfit mother.
"I couldn't do that," she said.
"But one morning, my son was particularly abusive to me. He even punched a hole in a door. Concerned for my safety, I called the Sheriff's Office. A deputy arrived and took my son to the DCF offices. Later that day, the DCF sent him back home.
"Two weeks later, the DCF charged me with `abandoning' my son, and a custody hearing was set," she said. "That's ridiculous. I'm a good mother and everybody who knows me knows that I'm a good mother.
"Now, with these new developments, I just hope I can work with the state to get my son the help he needs— but I shouldn't have to plead guilty to child abuse charges to make that happen."