There is no valid reasoning behind the Florida's Department of Children and Family Service's decision to place Rilya Wilson in the home of Geralyn and Pamela Graham. Although ther is a requirement to check birth certificates and other identification papers, perform a background check and do home visits and surprise home visits before placing a child in a foster parent's home. The only reason given by them was that they believed the little girl was a blood relative of the two Graham women. Did they simply take the "word" of Geralyn Graham who is a pathological liar by anyone's standards.
They had no further comment on the matter.
Rilya's biological mother lost her parental rights when the child was an infant. Her biological father is unidentified according to the Department of Child and Family Services. This seems to be contradictive to the statement that Geralyn Graham is the little girl's paternal grandmother. However, the statements in Rilya's welfare file conclude that one of Geralyn's sons is the biological father.
Agency officials will not comment on that "fact" or on the fact that he has a history with the law. As for Geralyn she was convicted and served five years in prison for grand theft. She also spent time in prison for food stamp fraud (not in relation to the case involving Rilya Wilson). The fact that Geralyn was previously diagnosed with dementia, found to hallucinate and suffer from an "organic personality syndrome" were apparently unnoticed by the social workers -- just as her convictions and prison record were unnoticed. It is assumed that the ability to read is a prerequisite for earning a masters degree in social work.
Geralyn's diagnoses were made during a 1996 court case where she was suing a car rental company. She lost the case. If only the Florida Department of Child & Family Services. had been as perceptive as the decision makers in that court case.
On October 3, 2002 Geralyn Graham, age 56 and Pamela Graham, age 37, who claim to be sisters in one case but unrelated in the foster care system records were charged with multiple counts of fraud. The reason for their indictments was continuing to collect benefits for Rilya after she had vanished from their home. The amounts collected include $14,257 worth of food stamps. The amount of the monthly cash benefit was not released. Neither of them were charged with the murder of Rilya Wilson because there was no physical evidence found.
Charges brought against Geralyn Graham in this case included seven counts of welfare fraud, theft of food stamps and receiving Medicaid funded medical treatment using false identification. Geralyn's son Leo Epson and daughter Jacqueline Epson have been arrested on charges of fraud which could result in a five year sentence for each of the third degree felony charges.
The authorities were unable to charge Pamela or Geralyn Graham in the little girl's disappearance. Their statement included these words. "We believe the individuals we arrested today are the best source we have right now to the whereabouts of Rilya,'' said Doyle Jourdan, regional director of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement. ''Certainly, from what you can see, they're not exactly individuals we can trust.''
A confusing bit of information is that Pamela Graham had physical custody of Rilya when she disappeared although it was previously stated that Geralyn Graham was her official caretaker. Another inaccuracy was that now Geralyn Graham claimed to be her paternal grandmother as well as Pamela's sister. This could actually be true if you can get through the headache of trying to unravel the complexities of the situation. Geralyn Graham has more than forty aliases. She also has a collection of Social Security numbers and driver's licenses. It so confused prosecutors that they now claim to have no idea who Geralyn Graham actually is. The Florida authorities do admit that they now know the two are related by avarice -- not by blood.
At this time the authorities in Florida are unsure of Geralyn's identity and refer to her as Jane Doe. Furthur there is no reason to believe she is related to Rilya Wilson (referring to her claim to be the child's grandmother). The State Attorney for the Southern District of Florida in Miami said the following. "Some of the facts that we know are that there is no evidence -- none whatsoever -- to support the claim that Jane Doe, also known as Geralyn Smith, a k a Geralyn Graham, is a blood relative to Rilya Wilson. We do know that Jane Doe is the central figure in a series of frauds that depended on the custody of Rilya Wilson, and that was the only way she was able to successfully pull off this fraud.''
"Pamela Graham played a pivotal role in making these frauds work, and she is the one that tied it together, and the two of them began to train the younger ones'' was the statement made by the prosecuting attorney(referring to Leo and Jacqueline Epson, the children of Geralyn Graham a k a Jane Doe).
Rilya Wilson has to this date not been found.
Yes, this is a true story. A story of a little girl whose life included spending time in a dog cage. A story of how the wicked stepmother (social services) sent her off to live with the big bad wolves (Geralyn and Pamela) to spend her few brief years of life in a way more horrifying than a Steven King Novel. Authored by the Department of Children & Family Services in the State of Florida and published by lack of concern. Yes, this is a true story...
