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Published on Thursday, March 13, 2003
in the Florida Today
Odd behavior led to DCF visit
COCOA -- A police videotape from a January traffic stop shows an irate Donna Conigliaro corralling two of her children into the back seat of a minivan while making pleas with a stunned highway patrolman not to be raped or killed.
"She said, 'You're scaring me, you're scaring my kids, please don't kill my kids,' " recalled Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Aaron Stephens, who pulled Conigliaro over on Interstate 95 after a radar check showed she was going 90 mph in a 70-mph zone. In a copy of the videotape, Stephens could be seen identifying himself as a patrolman while Conigliaro seemed to ignore his attempts to calm her.
The behavior, described as erratic by FHP officials, led the officer to contact the Department of Children & Families. The agency later interviewed Conigliaro and her husband, Giovanni, and decided to remove their three sons -- ages 4, 6, and 8 -- from their Titusville home and place them in foster care.
The DCF investigation into the Conigliaros' behavior took another strange turn March 6 after investigators said the couple assaulted the boys' foster mother and forcefully took the children away.
The boys were located in New Jersey on Saturday as the couple pulled up to the home of Donna Conigliaro's mother.
Both Conigliaros were arrested on a fugitive warrant from Florida for aggravated assault and interference with custody. Giovanni Conigliaro was later taken to a hospital in Somerset County where he was in serious condition, according to state prosecutors.
A closed custody hearing on whether the three children should be returned to Florida is expected to take place today in Superior Court in the central New Jersey county.
"She loves her children," said Steven Lieberman, Donna Conigliaro's attorney. "She's a good person."
He is asking the court to allow the children to remain in New Jersey, where the boys have several relatives.
"There's no question sheshould have gone through the system. But there's nothing I've seen that could justify such a lengthy separation," he said, referring to the fact that the children had been in DCF custody since Jan. 9, the day following the traffic stop.
Lieberman would not discuss the incidents or characterize her behavior in Florida but said that Donna Conigliaro was upset about her children being removed from her care. Family members in New Jersey could not be reached.
DCF officials, bound by state confidentiality laws, could not disclose the reasons behind the removal. Officials with the state agency, however, did file a petition with Brevard Circuit Judge Lisa Davidson to have information about the case released to make clear their role in the situation.
FHP, however, was able to release the grainy videotape from the traffic incident, one of two stops that took place Jan. 8. The first stop involved a trooper spotting Donna Conigliaro driving down Interstate 95 without seatbelts in use for either her or one of her children. She was issued a citation in that case, but the incident did not move the trooper to call DCF.
It was the second stop, with Donna Conigliaro telling the officer in front of two of her children not to rape or kill her, that raised concern. At one point, Conigliaro said she was having chest pains.
However, she refused medical treatment, took her $186 speeding ticket and was allowed to leave without further incident, Stephens said. The two highway patrol troopers, who were never involved with the DCF investigation, compared notes and called the state child abuse hotline to make a complaint.
Todd Murphy, a Titusville police officer, accompanied DCF workers to the couple's home as a routine precaution on the day of the traffic stops. Prior to the visit, Murphy had responded to problems at the home twice before in the last two months, including once when Donna Conigliaro made claims that the city had poisoned her water. The poisoning claims were unfounded and there were no signs of physical abuse of the children, he said.
"The removal wasn't based solely on the highway patrol report. It was based on their complete investigation. They determined from their contacts with the Conigliaros that the kids were in imminent danger," Murphy said.
At one point, during a DCF interview -- in which case workers asked questions such as whether the children were eating regularly -- Donna Conigliaro said one of the boys had been poisoned at school. The night the children were removed, Giovanni Conigliaro grabbed the children and told the three DCF workers that he would kill anyone that tried to take his boys away, Murphy said.
Donna Conigliaro also said in front of the children that the DCF workers and police wanted to kill the boys, Murphy said.
"I've got kids myself," Murphy said. "But it got to a point where the Conigliaros became the problem."