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| Eugene Abrams (2011) |
(AKA: Eugene George Harris)
Convicted on 77 counts of child of rape, incest, sodomy and obscenity involving five young girls including his own 2 1/2 year old daughter. After relocating to Hollywood, FL, he was convicted of sexually assaulting his 5-year-old daughter by another marriage. Eugene Abrams was sentanced to life in prision.
Abrams moved to Hollywood, FL in 1979 after serving 4 1/2 years on 77 counts of rape, sodomy and obscenity for running a $250,000-a-year child pornography ring with his first wife out of their Long Island home. Abrams photographed himself engaging in sex acts with six victims, some of them neighborhood children, who ranged in age from 3 to 14.
Abrams is a self-proclaimed inventor who was developing solar power devices. He is also a computer expert and completed a paralegal course at Barry University in Miami in 1984
Eugene wrote that he was "brow-beaten and intimidated" into pleading guilty in the New York cases when he was mentally ill. Because of his illness, he wrote, "I became pedophilic and did act inappropriately." Fake birth certificates and other bogus papers were found in Abrams' car, including a book purchased on how to change identities with fake Social Security numbers and other documents.
He passed himself off as Eugene George Harris, a New York academician hired by Nova University, investigators said. He took flying lessons, churned bogus identity documents out of his home computer, and studied books like 100 Ways to Disappear and Live Free.
Pornography Ring Broken Up in Nassau
New York Times - April 22, 1971
MINEOLA, L.I.; April 21-- Nassau County District Attorney William Cahn said today that his office had broken a nationwide, $250,000 - a-year pornography business, which allegedly used little girls, including the photographer's own three-and-one-half-year-old daughter, as models for lewd photographs.
In a 75-count indictment returned by the grand jury, Eugene Abrams, 37, of 1033 Little Neck Avenue, North Bellmore, was charged with one count of rape, five counts of sexual abuse, four counts of sodomy, one count of incest and nine counts of endangering the morals of minors.
Mr. Cahn said Mr. Abrams advertised for girl models between the ages of 4 and 14 years of age in issues of Screen magazine which is published by Milky Way Productions of 11 West 17th Street, Manhattan. The models were paid $200 a sitting and, according to Mr. Cahn, were allowed to return for subsequent sittings though, in at least one case, the parents knew their daughter had been molested while being photographed.
The magazine and Milky Way Productions were named in the indictment along with the executive editor, Alvin Goldstein, 35, of 61 Jaine Street, Manhattan, and Mr. Abram's wife, Joyce, 28, in two counts of obscenity, 45 counts of endangering the morals of minors, and two counts of sexual abuse.
Police Seek Two Defendants Awaiting Trial
By Kevin Davis
Sun-Sentinel - July 12, 1989
HOLLYWOOD -- Two men awaiting trial on charges of committing sexual crimes in separate cases have failed to appear in court and are being sought by police, a spokeswoman said on Tuesday.
Eugene Abrams, a convicted child molester, failed to appear in Broward County Circuit Court on July 6 on eight counts of child molesting, police spokeswoman Joycelyn Alston said.
We regret the error.
Abrams, 55, had been released after posting $2,500 -- or 10 percent -- of his $25,000 bail, a jail official said.
Clarence Wilson, arrested on sexual battery charges in an attack on a nursing home patient, failed to appear in court on June 6, Alston said. Wilson was released on a surety bond, County Jail officials said. His bail had been $5,000.
Wilson, 43, admitted to police that he sexually assaulted a woman, 84, under his care at the Washington Manor Nursing Home, Alston said.
Abrams was convicted 15 years ago on 77 counts of child molesting in New York and spent 10 years in Attica State Prison, Alston said.
He is charged by Hollywood police with molesting a 5-year-old child, Alston said.
Anyone with information on Abrams is asked to contact Detective Kevin Doyle and anyone with information on Wilson should call Detective Betty Horne or Curt Navarro. The main number at the Police Department is 921-3327.
**********CORRECTION, PUBLISHED JULY 15, 1989, FOLLOWS:**********
It was incorrectly reported in Wednesday's editions that Clarence Wilson failed to appear in court on sexual assault charges and a warrant was issued for his arrest.
On June 8, Wilson's attorney sent a letter of appearance on his client's behalf. There is no warrant for Wilson's arrest.
Police Seek 2 Suspects In Sexual Offense Cases Men Jumping Bail Accused in Attacks On Girl, Ole Woman
By Herald Staff
Miami Herald, The (FL) - July 12, 1989
Hollywood police are hunting for two men who jumped bail on sexual offense charges, one accused of sodomizing an 84-year-old nursing home patient with Alzheimer's disease and the other with molesting a 5-year-old girl.
Clarence Wilson, 43, whose last known address was 1485 W. Dixie Highway, No. 123, North Miami, skipped his June 6 sexual battery trial, police said. Detectives said Wilson, an attendant at the Washington Manor nursing home at 4200 Washington St., admitted in a taped confession to assaulting the resident in a shower in April.
Another nursing home employee also said she saw Wilson, who is 6 foot 3 and weighs 290 pounds, with the victim and heard her plead, "Please Stop. It hurts." Wilson, who had worked for the nursing home for 1 1/2 years, was released on $5,000 bond.
Anyone with information on his whereabouts is asked to call Detective Kevin Doyle at 921-3362.
Eugene Abrams, 55, faced eight charges of sexually molesting a child after his arrest last July, but failed to appear in court for a July 6 hearing. He was released on Dec. 21, 1988, on a $10,000 bond, Hollywood police spokeswoman Joycelynn Alston said.
Detectives said Abrams, whose last address was 6400 Hayes St., Hollywood, fondled a 5-year-old girl, masturbated in front of her and filmed her nude on videotape.
Fifteen years ago, Abrams was convicted on 77 counts of child molestation and served 10 years in Attica State Prison in New York, police said.
Anyone with information on Abrams should call 921-3387.
Child Rapist Disappears After Release On Bond
By Curtis Morgan and Christopher Wellisz
Miami Herald, The (FL) - July 13, 1989
A convicted child molester charged with sexually assaulting a 5-year-old Hollywood girl has jumped bond after being released by a Broward judge despite convictions in New York on 77 counts of rape, incest, sodomy and obscenity involving five young girls.
Eugene Abrams, 55, an unemployed inventor who once ran a nationwide child pornography ring on Long Island, disappeared last week and is being sought by police across South Florida.
"He's a child molester and he's out on the street again," Hollywood detective Curt Navarro said Wednesday. "I believe with his background, he's a threat out there, and he needs to be picked up as soon as possible."
Abrams, who served eight years in New York's Attica State Prison, was arrested last July and charged with sexually assaulting a 5-year-old girl and forcing her to pose nude for photographs and videotapes.
Since then, Abrams has been accidentally released from jail, rearrested and then released on bond, although the charges are capital offenses that allow the state to hold him without bond.
Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning released Abrams on bond on Jan. 11 and later refused to revoke the bond, despite prosecutors' protests. It is not clear whether she knew about Abrams' criminal record at the first hearing, although the court file includes a list of the 77 convictions.
But at the second hearing, prosecutors told Henning of Abrams' record and argued, "Persons of this community stand at great risk of physical harm from any defendant with such a criminal background."
Henning said Wednesday that she doesn't remember details of the case but recalls thinking Abrams should remain free because he had not missed a court appearance and was attending therapy sessions.
"I had justification, I think, in setting the bond," she said. "I thought that I was right, that he kept showing up in court. Unfortunately, he's since left the home."
Abrams' attorney, Larry Davis, said he has no idea where his client is but defended Henning. "It's easy to cast aspersions when you're looking at it in hindsight," he said.
Abrams, whose New York attorney once described him as "a Jekyll and Hyde," was arrested in 1971 with Joyce Abrams, his wife at the time, for running a nationwide pornography ring out of their home in North Bellmore, a suburb of New York City.
Newspapers described Abrams as an affluent inventor and a member of the high-IQ society Mensa. Abrams was arrested in Hollywood on July 14, 1988, after the 5-year-old girl told camp counselors that she had been sexually assaulted. When he was arrested, he told detective Navarro of his New York record, Navarro said.
Navarro said he doesn't recall whether he passed that information to prosecutors. Court records show that New York police printed Abrams' records on July 29, 1988, and sent them to Broward authorities.
It's not clear when the rap sheet arrived. Dave Casey, spokesman for the Broward state attorney's office, said prosecutors apparently didn't know about Abrams' record until after he was freed on bond in January.
Even before bond was set, Abrams was released from jail because of a paperwork mix-up. On Dec. 21, 1988, prosecutors refiled the case with an additional charge. But the only paperwork that reached jailers showed that the original case had been dropped.
Abrams was released, although he told jailers they were making a mistake. The next morning, he voluntarily returned to jail, his attorney said.
That voluntary return helped his case a month later when his attorney asked Henning to release him on bond. "He was willing to put himself back in jail and he appeared in court," she said Wednesday. "Usually someone who does that isn't prone to fly."
Henning ordered Abrams to attend regular therapy sessions, stay in his sister's Pembroke Pines home and stay away from the victim. Although Abrams could have been held without bond, Henning said she was required to consider mitigating circumstances.
A month later, Henning rejected a plea by Assistant State Attorney Dennis Bailey to revoke the bond and return Abrams to jail. Bailey was vacationing in Hawaii and was not available for comment Wednesday. Authorities learned Abrams had jumped bond when his wife, (Wife's Name Removed), called Davis last week and told him Abrams had disappeared. Henning revoked bond the next day.
Henning and attorney Davis said Abrams is not a threat to the community and both hope he will show up for his trial Aug. 14. Navarro disagreed and asked the public to help track him down. "He knows now there's no way out, that he's going to spend the rest of his life in jail," he said. "He's gone."
The Abrams Case
By Herald Staff
Miami Herald, The (FL) - July 13, 1989
Major developments in Eugene Abrams' case:
March 7, 1983 -- Abrams is released from Attica State Prison in New York after serving 8 1/2 years of a 10-year term on 77 counts of rape, sexual abuse, sodomy, incest and other charges in connection with a $250,000 nationwide pornography ring that used children as models. The five victims ranged in age from 3 to 14.
July 14, 1988 -- Abrams, now a Hollywood resident, is arrested on five charges after a 5-year-old girl told police that Abrams assaulted her and took photos of her nude. Abrams tells police about his record. A list of his convictions is included in the court file.
Sept. 7, 1988 -- Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning denies bond. Sexual battery on a child under 12 is a capital crime and a suspect can be held without bond.
Dec. 21, 1988 -- Abrams is accidentally released from jail in paperwork mix-up. Abrams tells jailers he shouldn't be released.
Dec. 22, 1988 -- Abrams phones his new attorney Larry Davis and asks to be readmitted to jail. He is locked up again.
Dec. 27, 1988 -- Davis asks that Abrams be freed on bond.
Jan. 11, 1989 -- Henning sets a $25,000 property bond. Abrams and his wife sign over the deed to their house and he is released.
Feb. 23, 1989 -- Henning denies motion to revoke bond.
July 5, 1989 -- Abrams' wife reports her husband is missing.
July 6, 1989 -- Henning revokes Abrams' bond.
July 11, 1989 -- Police ask public's help in locating Abrams.
Convicted Sex Abuser Who Escaped Always Will Be Threat, Experts Say
By Christopher Wellisz and Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald- July 14, 1989
Experts in sexual crimes said Thursday they were distressed by a judge's decision to grant bond to Eugene Abrams, a convicted sex offender accused of molesting a 5-year-old Hollywood girl.
Abrams, a self-proclaimed inventor and computer expert, may still be in South Florida after jumping bond last week, Hollywood police say. Detective Curt Navarro said an informant told him that Abrams had purchased books on how to change identities with fake Social Security numbers and other documents.
"It's discouraging to say the least," said Joanne Richter, director of the Broward County Sexual Assault Treatment Center. "It's just so hard to make cases against these people in the first place."
Most sex offenders like Abrams remain a threat outside of jail unless they undergo therapy, said Jeanne Miley, executive director of Kids in Distress, a Broward nonprofit group that helps young victims. She compared sex offenders to alcoholics who need long-term treatment.
A Nassau County, N.Y., police detective who helped send Abrams to prison in the early 1970s, recalled him as a compulsive child molester who abused every little girl who came into his house.
"Wherever he is, there's not a little girl who is going to be safe," said Lt. Barbara Beckerman of the Nassau County Police Department. Abrams spent nearly five years of a 10-year sentence in Attica State Prison in New York on 77 counts of rape, incest, sodomy and obscenity involving five young girls.
Abrams, a 55-year-old Brooklyn native, was arrested last July on charges of sexual battery against a 5-year-old Hollywood girl. He also was accused of taking pictures of the girl nude.
In January, Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning freed Abrams on a $25,000 bond after he had been in jail for seven months. She said she didn't remember prosecutors telling her about Abrams' criminal record.
But at a second bond hearing in February, prosecutors, citing Abrams' prior convictions, asked Henning to revoke the bond and return him to jail. Henning refused.
Henning said he had not missed a court appearance or therapy session and had voluntarily returned to jail after being released by accident in December.
Under Florida law, anyone accused of sexual battery or other capital crimes may be held in jail without bond. Abrams faces a minimum sentence of 25 years in prison.
Thursday, Henning said she still hoped Abrams would show up for trial Aug. 14. "In the meantime, he has not contacted the victim and has not shown he is out endangering anyone." But she added: "I have to say, that with all the present publicity, I doubt that he'd come back."
Lorna Spivak, attorney for Broward's guardian ad litem program, which provides court-appointed representatives for young victims, praised Henning's record, saying: "She's been very, very attentive to the child's needs."
In Abrams' case, Spivak said, "There must have some very, very extraordinary circumstance that the judge considered in granting bond."
In the 1970s, Abrams and his then-wife, Joyce, ran a child pornography ring from their suburban home in North Bellmore, Long Island.
The couple advertised for girl models in Screw, a porn tabloid. Abrams then photographed himself engaging in sex with the children, said Lt. Beckerman of the Nassau County police.
"I have never seen, in 21 years, pictures like the ones I saw," Beckerman said. "It's just heartbreaking."
Children from the neighborhood and friends of the Abrams' own young children also were molested, Beckerman said.
"Any child who came into that house would be touched -- any girl, not boy," Beckerman said.
Abrams pleaded guilty and was released in April 1979. His wife was sentenced to five years of probation.
The couple were divorced, and their young children were ordered into the custody of their maternal grandparents, according to court records.
Eugene Abrams later moved to Florida and married his present wife, (Wife's Name Removed). When they arrested Abrams last July, police confiscated hundreds of photographs and pornographic videotapes from his West Hollywood home.
But Hollywood police said they didn't think Abrams was trying to set up a pornography business like the one in New York.
Prosecutor Spurns Deal With Child Molester Surrender Offer Called 'Extortion'
by CURTIS MORGAN Herald Staff Writer
Miami Herald, The (FL) - July 25, 1989
Eugene Abrams, child molester on the lam, has drawn up his own terms for turning himself in. Convicted of 77 counts of rape, sodomy and obscenity a decade ago and now accused of assaulting a 5-year-old Hollywood girl, he wants a deal that would let him leave prison in about six years.
The Broward state attorney's office isn't interested.
"I believe the response was that we don't respond to extortion," said David Hodge, acting chief of the sex crimes division. "It's kind of like the American government's stance of not negotiating with terrorists."
Abrams' offer was outlined in a letter sent to his attorney, Larry Davis.
The 55-year-old Hollywood man faces a minimum 25 years if convicted of assaulting the 5-year-old. Since his arrest last July, Abrams had been released accidentally from jail, re- arrested and then released on bond in January by Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning, although the charges are capital offenses that would have allowed the state to hold him without bond.
Three weeks ago, the Brooklyn native jumped his $25,000 bond; Hollywood police said Monday they still haven't located him.
Detective Curt Navarro believes Abrams, who he said has used false documents to operate under an alias and had been spotted by sources as late as last Thursday, remains in the area but could flee at any time.
"It might be a week, two weeks," Navarro said. "The longer this goes on the more difficult it is to turn himself in. He knows what the story is."
Since fleeing, Abrams hasn't contacted Davis, his lawyer -- except in the letter explaining his surrender offer. Davis got the letter on July 13 and told prosecutors about it at a hearing the next day.
Hodges said Abrams wanted a guaranteed 15-year sentence, which could mean he would be freed in just over six years if gain time and other early-release rules were factored in.
From the beginning, Abrams, a paralegal, has had his own ideas about how to handle the case.
"Since he's a paralegal, he has sent me a lot of ideas for strategies," Davis said.
In the 1970s, Abrams and his then-wife sold photographs of him taking part in sexual acts with girls as young as 3 years old. New York police said the couple ran a nationwide, $250,000- a-year child porn ring out of their suburban Long Island home. Police found hundreds of photographs intended for sale by mail. Nine parents also were arrested for allowing their children to be photographed and sexually abused.
Abrams began his sentence in Attica State Prison on Sept. 16, 1974, after a stint at a state hospital for the criminally insane. His wife was sentenced to five years' probation. They were divorced, and their two young children were ordered into the custody of their maternal grandparents.
Abrams moved to Hollywood in 1979 after his release from prison, where he served fewer than five years of a 10-year sentence.
Molester A No-Show At Hearing
By CURTIS MORGAN Herald Staff Writer
Miami Herald, The (FL) - August 11, 1989
When convicted child molester Eugene Abrams jumped bail more than a month ago on charges of assaulting a 5-year-old girl, Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning cautioned: Wait and see, maybe he'll show up.
The wait officially ended Thursday and Abrams was nowhere to be seen.
The 55-year-old Hollywood resident did not appear at a Thursday hearing, his first scheduled court appearance since he fled July 5. Henning, who was in court late Thursday and could not be reached for comment, canceled his Aug. 14 trial.
Abrams, a Brooklyn native who was convicted of 77 counts of rape, sodomy and obscenity in New York more than a decade ago, was arrested in July 1988 and charged with sexually assaulting a 5-year-old Hollywood girl and forcing her to pose nude for photos and videotapes.
Since his arrest, Abrams had been released accidentally from jail, re-arrested after he surrendered, and then released in January on $25,000 bail by Henning, although the capital charges he faces would have allowed the courts to hold him without bail.
Dennis Bailey, chief of the sex crimes division of the Broward state attorney's office, said he wouldn't second-guess Henning's decision, but said Abrams' disappearance galls him.
"It's very frustrating for the people trying to fight for the rights of the little girl," he said. "The case goes back on the shelf until he's found."
In the 1970s, Abrams was convicted of running a nationwide pornography ring out of his Long Island home. Abrams and his wife at the time, Joyce, ran ads for young models, then photographed Abrams engaging in sex with girls as young as 3. Abrams served 4 1/2 years in Attica State Prison after a stint in a hospital for the criminally insane. He moved to Hollywood in 1979.
Now the state is moving to take possession of Abrams' home, which was used as collateral for his bond, Bailey said. Abrams' wife, (Wife's Name Removed), already has begun moving out.
Police believe Abrams may still be in the area, perhaps with a new identity. Hollywood police Detective Curtis Navarro is seeking tips.
Henning has said she doesn't believe Abrams poses a threat to the community, but Bailey isn't sure.
"Put it this way -- the guy was engaged in child sex abuse 20 years ago and he's still doing it. I see no indication that he's going to stop."
Child Molester-Pornographer Skips Bail - Broward Man Target of National Search
by GARY KANE, Palm Beach Post Staff Writer
The Palm Beach Post - August 12, 1989
A convicted child molester and pornographer, who skipped bail on sex- related charges in Broward County, is the target of a nationwide police manhunt.
Eugene Abrams, 55, failed to appear Thursday for a court hearing on charges accusing him of sexually assaulting a 5-year-old Hollywood girl and forcing the child to pose for pornographic videotapes and photographs.
Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning released Abrams on $25,000 bond in January, apparently unaware of his criminal history, which includes convictions in New York on 77 sex crimes involving five girls. Through plea bargaining, Abrams accepted a 10-year sentence for those crimes, and served about six years in Attica State Prison.
In February, prosecutors told the judge about Abrams' criminal record and asked that his bond be revoked. Henning let the bond stand.
Henning declined Friday to discuss her decision to release Abrams on bail.
"I can't say anything now because the investigation is continuing," she said.
Abrams' escape has attracted the attention of John Walsh, host of America's Most Wanted on the Fox Television Network, who asked Hollywood detectives and the Broward State Attorney's Office for information about case. Hollywood Detective Curt Navarro said he believes Abrams is still living in South Florida. He also believes Abrams is a threat to the community.
"Just because he happens to have a smile on his face when he commits these crimes doesn't mean he isn't dangerous," Navarro said.
"I think that whatever time he has left on this earth should be spent behind bars."
Abrams used his Hollywood house as collateral for his bond. The court holds title to the house and intends to seize the property, said Assistant State Attorney Dennis Bailey.
by Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald, The (FL) - October 11, 1989
Eugene Abrams, a convicted child rapist accused of molesting a 5-year-old Hollywood girl, was captured Tuesday morning at Flamingo Gardens in Davie during a rendezvous to celebrate his wife's birthday.
Abrams, imprisoned on 77 counts of rape, sodomy and obscenity more than a decade ago for running a New York child pornography ring, had been on the lam for 98 days after jumping a $25,000 bond set by Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning.
In Abrams' car were an electronic stun gun and fake identity documents for a Eugene George Harris, investigators said. He sported a goatee and had been renting a room in a Sunrise home.
Dave Casey, spokesman for the Broward state attorney's office, said a search of the home late Tuesday night uncovered more than $18,000 in cash, along with pornographic films and tapes, including some involving children.
There also was a home computer, which Casey said Abrams was using to manufacturer false IDs.
Henning said she was happy Abrams was back in custody. "I'm relieved about that," she said.
Abrams, 55, jumped bail July 5. The capital charges he faced would have allowed holding him without bail and prosecutors had argued against release, saying he posed a "great risk" to the community.
Mike Gillo, the Broward state attorney's office investigator who handcuffed Abrams in the Flamingo Gardens parking lot after hunting him since August, said a hunch helped collar the Hollywood man.
Police had (Wife's Name Removed)' phone tapped for months and knew they were talking. Several calls were traced to pay phones, but each time, police missed catching him by minutes, Hollywood detective Curt Navarro said.
"We felt that being that it was her birthday, if ever they were going to contact it would be today," Gillo said.
He and Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent Mike Brown staked out (Wife's Name Removed)' Hollywood townhouse at 4 a.m. When she left at 7 a.m., they followed her to the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, then to the botanical gardens in Davie just before 10 a.m.
Abrams drove up 45 minutes later in a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird. He wore a tan baseball hat and had grown a goatee since fleeing. Moments after Abrams and his wife exchanged a few words, eight investigators moved in.
(Wife's Name Removed), who could not be reached for comment, doesn't face charges, said Dennis Bailey, chief of the state attorney's sex crimes division. Eugene Abrams' attorney, Larry Davis, was vacationing in Europe and could not be reached.
Abrams was arrested in 1971 with his then-wife, Joyce, for running a pornography ring out of their Long Island home. Authorities said they photographed Abrams engaging in sex with girls as young as 3. He served 4 1/2 years in Attica State Prison after a stint in a hospital for the criminally insane. He moved to Hollywood in 1979.
Acquaintances described Abrams as a near-genius inventor who was developing solar power devices. He also is a computer expert and completed a paralegal course at Barry University in Miami in 1984. His New York attorney decribed him as a "Jekyll and Hyde."
Abrams was arrested in July 1988 and charged with sexually assaulting a Hollywood girl and forcing her to pose nude.
He was released accidentally from jail in December 1988, surrendered a day later, and then released again in January after Henning granted him bond. She said he had not missed a court appearance or therapy session.
In July, Abrams tried to cut his own deal with the state attorney via mail. He offered to surrender if prosecutors guaranteed him no more than six years in prison. The offer was rejected.
In August, he wrote letters to The Miami Herald, calling himself "basically law-abiding" and denying that he had molested the Hollywood girl. He acknowledged he had two photos of a nude child.
Abrams also wrote that he was "brow-beaten and intimidated" into pleading guilty in the New York cases when he was mentally ill. Because of his illness, he wrote, "I became pedophilic and did act inappropriately." Fake birth certificates and other bogus papers were found in Abrams' car, but prosecutors would not discuss the items in detail.
Abrams faces eight charges, including four counts of sexual battery on a child. If convicted, the battery charges carry a minimum 25-year prison term. Abrams was being held without bond Tuesday in the Broward County Jail. He will appear before a magistrate this morning.
Elusive Child-Rapist Arrested Police Tracked Fugitive For 98 Days
By Curis Morgan
The Miami Herald - October 11, 1989
Eugene Abrams, a convicted child rapist accused of molesting a 5-year-old Hollywood girl, was captured Tuesday morning at Flamingo Gardens in Davie during a rendezvous to celebrate his wife's birthday.
Abrams, imprisoned on 77 counts of rape, sodomy and obscenity more than a decade ago for running a New York child pornography ring, had been on the lam for 98 days after jumping a $25,000 bond set by Broward Circuit Judge Patti Englander Henning.
A search of Abrams' car yielded an electronic stun gun and fake identity documents for a Eugene George Harris, investigators said. He sported a goatee and had been renting a room in a Sunrise home.
Dave Casey, spokesman for the Broward State Attorney's Office, said a search of the home late Tuesday night uncovered more than $18,000 in cash and pornographic films and tapes, including some involving children.
There also was a home computer, which Casey said Abrams was using to manufacturer false ID's.
Henning said she was happy Abrams was back in custody. "I'm relieved about that," she said.
Abrams, 55, jumped bail on July 5. The capital charges he faced would have allowed holding him without bail and prosecutors had argued against release, saying he posed a "great risk" to the community.
Mike Gillo, the Broward State Attorney's Office investigator who handcuffed Abrams Tuesday after hunting him since August, said a hunch helped collar the Hollywood man.
Police had (Wife's Name Removed)' phone tapped for months and knew they were talking. Several calls were traced to pay phones, but each time, police missed catching him, Hollywood detective Curt Navarro said.
"We felt that being that it was her birthday, if ever they were going to contact it would be today," Gillo said.
He and Florida Department of Law Enforcement agent Mike Brown staked out (Wife's Name Removed)' Hollywood townhouse at 4 a.m. When she left at 7 a.m., they followed her to the Broward County Courthouse in Fort Lauderdale, then to the botanical gardens in Davie just before 10 a.m.
Abrams drove up 45 minutes later in a 1984 Pontiac Sunbird. He wore a tan baseball hat and had grown a goatee since fleeing. Moments after Abrams and his wife exchanged a few words, eight investigators moved in.
"He did absolutely nothing," Gillo said. "He froze like I told him to freeze."
Gillo wasn't sure what Abrams was doing with the stun gun. "I don't know, but I'm glad it wasn't on him," he said.
(Wife's Name Removed), who could not be reached for comment, doesn't face charges, said Dennis Bailey, chief of the State Attorney's sex crimes division. Eugene Abrams' lawyer, Larry Davis, was vacationing in Europe and could not be reached.
Abrams was arrested in 1971 with his then-wife, Joyce, for running a pornography ring out of their Long Island home. Authorities said they photographed Abrams engaging in sex with girls as young as 3. He served 4 1/2 years in Attica State Prison after a stint in a hospital for the criminally insane. He moved to Hollywood in 1979.
Acquaintances described Abrams as a near-genius inventor who was developing solar power devices. He is also a computer expert and completed a paralegal course at Barry University in Miami in 1984. His New York attorney decribed him as a "Jekyll and Hyde."
Abrams was arrested in July 1988 and charged with sexually assaulting a Hollywood girl and forcing her to pose nude for videotapes and photographs.
He was released accidentally from jail in December, surrendered a day later, and then released again in January after Henning granted him bond. She said he had not missed a court appearance or therapy session.
In July, Abrams, tried to cut his own deal with the state attorney via mail. He offered to surrender if prosecutors guaranteed him no more than six years in prison. The offer was rejected.
In August, he wrote letters to The Miami Herald, calling himself "basically law-abiding" and denying that he had molested the Hollywood girl. He acknowledged he had two photos of a nude child, but said, "I am not the Bundy of child abuse . . . there is no real victim."
Abrams also wrote that he was "brow-beaten and intimidated" into pleading guilty in the New York cases when he was mentally ill. Because of his illness, he wrote, "I became pedophilic and did act inappropriately." Abrams faces eight charges, including four counts of sexual battery on a child. If convicted, the battery charges carry a minimum 25-year prison term. Bailey said he may ask to have the terms run consecutively, assuring Abrams would never be released.
"Mr. Abrams deserves to spend the rest of his life behind bars," said Sgt. Darron Castiglione, chief of Hollywood's child exploitation unit.
Abrams was being held without bond Tuesday in the Broward County Jail. He will appear before a magistrate this morning. Bailey and Henning said they doubt bond will be set.
Birthday Trips Up Bail-Jumper Meeting To Celebrate With Wife Turns Sour For Convicted Child Molester
By Kevin Davis
Sun-Sentinel - October 11, 1989
Police were counting on Eugene Abrams remembering his wife's birthday.
At least that is the theory an investigator used on Tuesday to track down Abrams, a convicted child molester who jumped bail three months ago while awaiting trial on charges of molesting a 5-year-old Hollywood girl.
Abrams, 55, was arrested after investigators followed his wife, (Wife's Name Removed), to Flamingo Gardens in Davie about 10:30 a.m. Eugene Abrams arrived a short time later to meet her.
Tuesday was her birthday.
''I felt strongly they would meet,'' said Michael Gillo, investigator for the Broward State Attorney's Office. ''He was very surprised. He had nothing to say to us.''
Gillo and Officer Michael Brown of the Florida Department of Law Enforcement began tracking the movement of Abrams' wife about 4 a.m. on Tuesday.
''Today was his wife's day off and her birthday,'' Gillo said. ''When you've been an investigator for a while you pick up on these things.''
Dennie Bailey, chief of the state attorney's sex crimes and child abuse unit, said Gillo's work was first rate.
''He's gonna get nominated for law enforcement officer of the year for this,'' he said. ''He put in a lot of extra effort.''
Abrams was convicted 15 years ago on 77 counts of child molesting in New York and spent about eight years of a 10-year sentence in Attica State Prison, police said.
Hollywood police first charged Abrams in July 1988 with molesting the 5-year- old child. Detectives accused Abrams of taking nude photographs of the girl and committing indecent assaults against her.
When questioned, Abrams gave a sworn statement admitting he committed certain acts against the girl and took nude photographs of her, officials said.
Abrams has been a fugitive since he failed to appear in Broward County Circuit Court in August 1989 on the charges, said Hollywood Detective Curt Navarro. The State Attorney's Office got information that Abrams left town after July 5, 1989, but hoped he would return for the August hearing.
Abrams had been released on a $25,000 personal property bond by Judge Patti Englander Henning in January. However, after learning that Abrams left town in July, Henning issued a warrant for Abrams' arrest to hold him without bail.
On Dec. 21, 1988, prosecutors refiled the case with additional charges, while Abrams was being held without bail. But a paper work mix-up showed that the original case had been dropped and Abrams was released, Bailey said.
Abrams turned himself in the next morning. It was the fact that Abrams turned himself in which helped his case when his attorney asked Henning to release Abrams on the personal property bond.
''I fought that motion,'' prosecutor Bailey said. ''My argument was (Abrams) was too dangerous a person to be allowed in our community.''
Bailey thinks that when Abrams realized that he could be sentenced to a minimum of 25 years in prison on each count, he decided to flee.
''Sooner or later is was going to dawn on him,'' Bailey said. ''He was going to wake up and smell the coffee.''
Detective Navarro said he is glad to know that Abrams is finally in custody.
''The guy is off the street and it's doubtful he'll be out on the street again,'' he said.
Bogus ID Papers Found In Child Rapist's Room
by CURTIS MORGAN Herald Staff Writer
Miami Herald, The (FL) - October 12, 1989
Convicted child rapist Eugene Abrams lived a low-profile life on the lam, but regaled housemates with tall tales about his past while concocting a future behind closed doors.
He passed himself off as Eugene George Harris, a New York academician hired by Nova University, investigators said. He took flying lessons, churned bogus identity documents out of his home computer, and studied books like 100 Ways to Disappear and Live Free.
But in the privacy of the $295-a-month room he rented in a Sunrise home, investigators say he clung to one strong interest. A search turned up 30 Polaroid pictures of children in explicit poses -- one of them the 5-year-old Hollywood girl he is accused of molesting -- along with 86 reels of 8mm adult films and numerous videos and magazines.
Michael Gillo, a Broward state attorney's office investigator, said Wednesday that there had not been time to review all the material.
Abrams, pale, pudgy and slight, appeared in Magistrate's Court at a bond hearing Wednesday, one day after his arrest at Flamingo Gardens in Davie. He had met his wife, (Wife's Name Removed), there on her birthday. He had eluded police for 98 days.
The Hollywood man hunkered in his seat covering his mouth with one hand while Magistrate Kathleen Kearney ticked off the eight charges he faces, including four counts of sexual battery on a child. He was denied bail.
His attorney Larry Davis is on vacation and was not in court. Abrams did not say a word during the brief hearing.
As Eugene George Harris, his alias, he had more to say.
"The man just fooled me," said Bernard Brager, a retiree who rented a bedroom in his tidy gray home to Abrams. "He said he had come from New York. He said he was becoming a professor at Nova University."
Craig Eichhorn, 24, who rents another room in Brager's home, said Abrams described himself as a commercial pilot who had traveled the world. They would pore over maps of the Caribbean in the kitchen.
Abrams, an inventor and paralegal, was not a professional pilot. Papers found in his room indicate he was taking flying lessons at North Perry Airport in Pembroke Pines, Gillo said. A flight map of the Bahamas was found.
Four Perry flight schools said they had no students using Abrams' alias or fitting his description. Nova University and Nova Community School said there was no Eugene Harris on their payrolls.
Abrams never had visitors and rarely left the house, Eichhorn said.
Trial Date Set
Staff reports
Sun-Sentinel - October 14, 1989
A Dec. 18 trial date has been set for convicted child rapist Eugene Abrams, who was arrested on Tuesday after eluding police for 98 days.
Abrams, 55, was charged last year with molesting a 5-year-old Hollywood girl and forcing her to pose nude for photographs and videotapes. He jumped bail in July, but was arrested in Davie on Tuesday as he met his wife on her birthday.
Abrams has previously served 4 1/2 years in prison on 77 convictions for rape, sodomy and obscenity for running a child pornography ring out of his Long Island, N.Y., home.
Tentative Deal Struck With Child Rapist
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald, The (FL) - November 19, 1989
Prosecutors have worked out a tentative agreement with convicted child rapist Eugene Abrams, a Broward State Attorney's Office spokesman said Saturday.
Spokesman Dave Casey would not discuss the specifics of the negotiations, but said, "We had very little to offer. We felt that the seriousness of the charges precluded much leeway."
In July 1988, Hollywood police charged Abrams, 55, with molesting a 6-year-old Hollywood girl and forcing her to pose nude for photographs and videotapes. He was released accidentally from jail in December, surrendered a day later and then was released again in January by Broward Circuit Court Judge Patti Englander Henning on $25,000 bond.
Abrams jumped bail July 5 and eluded investigators for 98 days before state attorney's investigators collared him in Davie, where he went to meet his wife, (Wife's Name Removed), on her birthday.
While living in a rented room in Plantation, Abrams wrote prosecutors, trying to cut a deal for turning himself in.
Abrams faces seven charges, including four counts of sexual battery on a child, which carries a minimum penalty of 25 years in prison. Casey said prosecutors would ask for the maximum penalty.
Abrams' attorney, Larry Davis, would not comment on the negotiations.
While Casey emphasized the arrangement was tentative, he said, "It appears he is going to plead guilty on Wednesday." Abrams is scheduled to appear before Henning for a change of plea hearing at 9:30 a.m. Wednesday.
As part of the deal, Hollywood Detective Curt Navarro said, $18,300 in cash seized from Abrams' rented room will be used to set up a trust fund for the Hollywood girl he is accused of molesting. The state attorney's office victims' advocate program and Hollywood police agreed to the arrangement, he said.
"You know, we're not in the business to make money," Navarro said. "We gave the go-ahead. That's how best to use it -- for the victim."
Abrams moved to Hollywood in 1979 after serving 4 1/2 years on 77 convictions for rape, sodomy and obscenity for running a child-pornography ring with his then-wife out of their Long Island home. The six victims, some of them neighborhood children, ranged in age from 3 to 14.
Man Gets Life Term For Child Pornography, Assault
By Barbara Walsh, Staff Writer
Sun-Sentinel - November 23, 1989
When he was freed in 1979, Eugene Abrams had served less than half of a 10- year prison sentence for operating a child pornography ring and raping neighborhood children in New York.
Authorities there predicted that, sooner or later, Abrams would be arrested somewhere else on similar charges.
He was.
On Wednesday, Abrams, 55, pleaded guilty in Broward Circuit Court to sexually assaulting a Hollywood girl, now 7, and making obscene videotapes of the girl since she was 18 months old.
He received a life sentence and will serve a minimum of 25 years in prison without the possibility of parole, the automatic sentence for someone convicted of sexual battery on a child younger than 11.
''When he was released, we predicted he'd be picked up again,'' said former Nassau County, N.Y., Detective Robert Rafferty. ''He ruined a lot of lives here in New York, and I'm sure he's ruined many lives in Florida that police don't even know about.''
The tapes, so graphic the FBI and the victim's psychologist had difficulty looking at them, were ordered destroyed by Judge Patricia Henning.
''As far as I'm concerned, he should never see the light of day again,'' Hollywood Detective Curt Navarro said. ''He is definitely a danger to the community.''
Had Long Island, N.Y., prosecutors been able to convict Abrams during the 1970s, he would still be in prison serving a life sentence on 77 charges against six victims, ages 3 to 14.
But Abrams was initially ruled mentally unfit to stand trial. When he later was declared competent, the case fell apart because the child victims did not want to testify, said Broward Assistant State Attorney Dennis Bailey.
The best plea bargain that New York prosecutors could work out was 10 years in prison, Bailey said.
When New York police arrested Abrams in 1971, they seized 7,000 photographs and negatives showing children in sexual poses. Abrams sold the photographs in the United States and 11 other countries, Rafferty said.
Said Detective Albert Anderson, also with Nassau County police: ''In my 37 years, I've yet to see his equivalent. He was devoid of moral attitudes. He was in this business for sheer gratification and profit.''
Abrams' case, Bailey said, highlights the problem prosecutors face when the case hinges on the testimony of young children.
''We get two to three cases of child abuse a day, and very few go to trial,'' Bailey said. ''The child is confused as to what is right and wrong. Often, the child will simply not speak about the acts or contradict themselves so many times a jury would not believe them.''
Hollywood police arrested Abrams in July 1988 and charged him with eight sexual assaults. The state initially had difficulty putting together a case, Bailey said, because doctors examining the victim said there was no physical evidence of rape.
But when Abrams jumped his $25,000 bail in January, the case turned around, Bailey said.
Michael Gillo, an investigator with the State Attorney's Office, tracked Abrams down three months later and found two 90-minute tapes showing Abrams committing sexual acts on the young child.
The state used the tapes as leverage to get a tough sentence without a trial, Bailey said.
''The FBI examined the tapes, and they couldn't stand to look at them,'' Bailey said. ''The child's counselor who looked at them was sick for three days. The state did not want the tapes shown in a public forum, and I don't know what nightmares they would present for the child.''
The judge agreed.
''It is the most reprehensible act I have ever heard in many years on the bench,'' Henning told Abrams, who stared at the floor. ''All of us agree that one person who should not have any further trauma is the victim. Only because of that are we accepting a plea.''
Child Rapist Is Sentenced To Life Term
By Curtis Morgan
Miami Herald - November 23, 1989
Progression of abuse revealed in porn tape
Even with police hot on his trail, Eugene Abrams never parted with a cherished dirty little secret -- a videotape history documenting his sexual abuse of a Hollywood girl starting mere months after her first birthday.
On Wednesday, assistant state attorney Dennis Bailey turned the tapes against him, describing a victim whose childhood became so twisted that sick acts were simply second-nature.
"By the time she is 5, she is directing the videotape," Bailey told Broward Circuit Court Judge Patti Englander Henning. "She learned how to make child pornography before she learned how to tie her shoes."
Henning sentenced Abrams, 55, to life in prison on four counts of sexual battery on the girl, who is now 7 1/2, and four other charges. Under a deal Bailey worked out with Abrams and his attorney, Larry Davis, the sentences will run concurrently. Abrams must serve at least 25 years before becoming eligible for parole.
"Mr. Abrams," Henning told the pudgy little man wearing a white shirt and rumpled tan trousers, "to say that this is the most reprehensible of acts that I've heard in my many years on the bench might even be an understatement."
In July 1988, Hollywood police charged Abrams with molesting the girl and forcing her to pose nude for photographs and videotapes. He was released accidentally from jail in
December, surrendered a day later and then was freed again in January by Henning on $25,000 bond.
At the time, Henning said details of Abrams' past had not been properly admitted as evidence. Abrams moved to Hollywood in 1979 after serving 4 1/2 years on 77 counts of rape, sodomy and obscenity for running a $250,000-a-year child pornography ring with his then-wife out of their Long Island home. Abrams photographed himself engaging in sex acts with six victims, some of them neighborhood children, who ranged in age from 3 to 14.
He jumped bail July 5 and eluded capture for 98 days before Broward State Attorney's Office investigators collared him in Davie, where he had gone to met his current wife, (Wife's Name Removed), on her birthday.
Abrams, an inventor, paralegal and computer expert, had been living in a private home in Plantation, passing himself off as Eugene George Harris, an academician from New York.
In Abrams' $295-a-month room, investigators found $18,300 in cash, books on changing identities, a computer, 86 reels of adult films and numerous videocassettes, including two critical ones clearly showing both Abrams and the victim, Bailey said.
One appeared to be a highlight film of sorts, snippets recorded from other tapes, depicting Abrams engaging in various acts with the girl from the time she was 18 months old until she was 3. The two videos totaled about 1 1/2 hours.
"On the videotapes," Bailey said, "it's very clear the victim was in a great deal of pain."
Abrams, who had shaved the goatee he grew as a disguise, spoke little, repeatedly answering "yes" in a squeaky lisp to Henning's questions. Davis, his attorney, said his client agreed to plead guilty to spare his family the trauma and stress of a trial.
The agreement also establishes a trust fund for the victim, using the $18,300 investigators seized. The girl is now receiving counseling. The deal also will allow Abrams' wife, (Wife's Name Removed), to sell their home, which they had put up for his bond.
(Wife's Name Removed) sat grim and red-eyed through the 20-minute hearing.
"I'm just glad it's over," she said. "I've been living with this for a year and four months."
After learning the details of his past, she has decided to divorce Abrams early next year.
"I knew that he had been in trouble but I had no idea of the extent or that it had to do with child pornography," she said.
Bailey believes Eugene Abrams was motivated by more than concern for his family. Abrams took a lot of pride in his child pornography talents, Bailey said, and didn't want the tapes used against him.
At one point while on the lam, Abrams had written prosecutors, trying to cut a lenient deal to turn himself in.
"He maintains his change of plea was to protect his family. I find that absurd," Bailey said. "He didn't try to protect his family until we had the goods on him."
Hollywood detective Curt Navarro, who originally arrested Abrams, agreed: "He's pleading right now because if he goes to trial he'll get 100 years."
Navarro said justice would be best served if Abrams' cell mates viewed some of his videotapes. "Other guys in jail have children, too," Navarro said.
Bailey said he agreed to the deal because he didn't want to submit the victim to the stress of a trial nor show a jury the tapes, which Henning ordered destroyed.
Besides, Bailey said, "He's not in very good health. It's very doubtful he'll survive the 25 years in prison to be eligible for parole. That's what I'm banking on."
Nightmare Eugene Abrams is in Jail for Molesting his Little Girl For 4 1/2 Years.
It was all she ever knew. It was something her mother knew. It can be decribed by one word in control
By Liz Doup
Sun-Sentinel - December 10, 1989
The crime was too terrible to even take to trial. No one wanted to show the tapes to a jury. No one wanted the young victim to have to live it again. It is enough to know that Eugene Abrams took a video camera, the same camera that photographed his daughter at birthday parties and on family vacations, and made pornographic movies -- featuring Daddy and his daughter. Two and a half weeks ago, a Broward County judge sentenced Abrams to life in prison, with no possibility of parole for 25 years, after he pleaded guilty to multiple accounts of sexual battery. He is 55 years old and chances are this is one child molester who will die in prison. The prosecutor doesn't mind saying that he's counting on it. At Abrams' sentencing, the judge forbade him any contact with his daughter, right down to sending her a birthday card. He can, at some point, write her a letter of apology. The judge, calling this the most reprehensible act she has heard in her many years on the bench, ordered the tapes destroyed. During the sentencing, (Wife's Name Removed), his wife of nearly nine years, sat in the courtroom and stared at her husband, who could not return her gaze. After the sentencing, she called her parents and told them: ''It's over.'' Though in some ways it is only beginning.
She is not what anyone expects her to be and she doesn't react the way everyone expects her to react.
(Wife's Name Removed) is an educated woman who works as a registered nurse. She recently turned 44 and faces a future filled with questions she may never be able to answer.
Her eyes are pale and blue and her face, ringed by a flurry of red curly hair, is calm and composed as she tries to explain what everyone else finds inexplicable.
How a mother couldn't know that her child knew how to make pornographic movies before she knew how to tie her shoes.
Why she didn't turn on her husband once her daughter had spoken. And why she continues to talk to him by phone.
''It's crazy,'' (Wife's Name Removed) says, knowing that if it doesn't make sense to her, it can hardly make sense to anyone else.
She does not, as do others, label her husband with invectives or damn him outright for his actions. When she speaks of him, she calls him Gene.
She says that she can hate him and yet she still feels sorry for him. She can believe what he did though she can't comprehend it.
Once, she says she married an animal instead of a man. That her husband is like someone from another planet.
But there is no force behind the words. And no venom.
More than once, she says she knows that her husband still loves her. And that it's hard to break free of the man whose life is so intertwined with her own.
Before meeting Abrams, she hadn't dated much and never for long. Abrams was the first man she ever moved in with.
Others have described him as a clever, manipulative man. In one letter to his wife, written when he was on the run, he relentlessly preys on her quietest fears: that she'll be lonely without a man in her life, that no one will ever love her again or as well.
Throughout the ordeal he has kept in contact and she has not broken from that. For months, they did not talk about what happened. She did not say to him: ''How could you?'' ''Why did you?'' ''I hate you.''
''It's understood that I know,'' she says. For months, she could only say to him: ''I'm not happy about what you did.''
Such understatement comes easily from (Wife's Name Removed), who keeps tight control of both her words and emotions. This is the woman who didn't cry, who didn't become hysterical when told that her husband had been molesting their daughter.
She was stunned by the words. But she was also in control.
''Of course I feel guilty and everybody tries to make me feel guilty that I didn't know,'' she says. ''But there were no signs that I was aware of. She didn't have nightmares. She wasn't wetting the bed.''
Only later, after her daughter spoke up and the tapes surfaced, did she recognize clues that could have tipped her off sooner.
Her husband's insistence that everyone walk around naked at home. Her daughter's familiarity with her husband's body. His extensive collection of pornographic movies.
''I'm not stupid,'' she says, ''but when I think of those things now it makes me feel like an idiot.''
Because of the nature of the abuse, the child's wounds are more emotional than physical.
Her grandparents, who sometimes bathed her and dressed her, suspected nothing. Neither did (Wife's Name Removed)'s best friend, Betsy Payne, a medical secretary, who has been around the child since she was born.
''She was so perfectly normal when you'd think it would be written all over her,'' Payne says. ''Wouldn't you think she would be frightened or reticent? But she wasn't. She was always very outgoing, very affectionate.
''What you have to realize is, this is all she knew. It was her way of life.''
The abuse started when the child was about 18 months of age and could not voice a protest.
But it continued until the child was 6 years old and had the words to set her free.
(Wife's Name Removed) does not question why her daughter never told her. She was too young, she says. Her father told her this was ''our secret.'' On the tapes, he threatened to hurt her. And the child did what all good children did. She obeyed her daddy.
The therapy buzzword is ''co-dependent'' and describes those who would rather follow than lead. Who would rather steady a boat than rock it. Who would rather duck a fight than come out punching.
They are easy targets and they are easily victimized.
Women whose children are molested are frequently described as ''co- dependent.''
In 1987, a year before her husband was arrested, (Wife's Name Removed) started therapy to learn how to deal with a marriage that was coming apart. Her husband -- a computer whiz, inventor and out-of-work paralegal with a passion for classical music -- couldn't keep a job or make a go of any business. She carried the dual burden of breadwinner and homemaker, and her friends often questioned why she stayed in the marriage.
''I was married late in life,'' (Wife's Name Removed) says. ''I wanted to make it work.''
After her husband's arrest, her work suffered. She made a series of mistakes that eventually cost her the job she had held for six years. ''I didn't go crying and screaming,'' she says. ''I had job problems. That was how I fell apart.'' She is working now but the new job pays less than her old one and money is a problem. Recently she filed for bankruptcy.
In a 3 1/2-hour interview, her thoughts stay focused on her work and only when asked directly does the subject of her child enter the conversation. Her voice drops to a whisper when she describes what happened, but she can talk about it without faltering and she doesn't break down.
''I'm afraid she'll get to puberty and think I did know and that I closed my eyes to it,'' she says. ''I'm afraid I'm going to be in for some bad times. I'd do anything to move the clock back and stop it. I'd have done anything to protect her.''
She anticipates accusations from her daughter because she's accustomed to them. In her support group -- a group of women whose children have been sexually abused -- she was attacked for not being angry enough. Co-workers chastised her for continuing to talk to the man who took so much from her daughter. And there are those who say she should have known something and she should have done more.
''On the tape the child was screaming bloody murder,'' says Curt Navarro, the Hollywood police detective on the case.
And Dennis Bailey, the Broward assistant state attorney who handled the case, says:
''The amount of blindness it would take for her not to see ... that's hard for anybody to believe. But the worst of it was to not leave his side to be directly by her daughter's side. I'll never be able to understand that.''
(Wife's Name Removed) only says that this is her life and no one else can live it for her.
''You have to deal with this in your own way,'' she says, ''and in your own time.''
Only in the past few weeks have the pieces come together.
Before, there were simply the words of a child. There were no marks, no scars, and the doctors who examined the girl found no physical evidence of rape.
(Those who saw the tape take issue with that medical conclusion. It happened over a period of years, says Mike Gillo, an investigator from the Broward State Attorney's Office, so there was time to heal.)
After capturing Abrams at Flamingo Gardens in Davie, where he had gone to meet his wife one day in October, Gillo recovered his belongings from a home in Plantation where he had been staying.
That's when the case turned around.
In a cloth suitcase, along with $18,300 and Polaroid pictures of the victim, Gillo found two videotapes.
The state had its evidence. The case was rock solid.
Abrams accepted a guilty plea to avoid the trial that nobody, not even the defendant, wanted. And that marked the end of the legal case, which had started last summer. That's when the child -- 6 years old at the time -- spoke up about the nightmare she was living.
She said something about Daddy touching her in a place she didn't like to a playmate at their summer camp, and her friend knew enough to tell a camp counselor. The authorities were called in and, based on the child's statements, Abrams was arrested.
In January, he was freed on a $25,000 bond. (Wife's Name Removed) says she let him work at home on the computer while their daughter was in day care but at night he went elsewhere. To his family, (Wife's Name Removed) thinks, which lives in the area. In July, he jumped bail and was hunted down 98 days later by an investigator from the Broward State Attorney's Office.
During those 98 days, (Wife's Name Removed) and the men hunting her husband formed an uneasy alliance.
In (Wife's Name Removed)'s eyes, she was cooperative, letting them tap her phone and trace the calls. Authorities say she wasn't as cooperative as they wanted her to be.
''She wanted him caught,'' Gillo says, ''but she didn't want to be the one who did it.''
They wanted her to set him up, but she wouldn't. She says she tried to talk him into turning himself in, but he never did.
''Her concern was more about him than the child,'' says Navarro, the investigating detective. ''It was always 'Gene is calling and telling me things.' Back then it was more Gene, Gene, Gene.''
On Oct. 10, (Wife's Name Removed)'s birthday, she met with her husband to talk about money problems. Authorities trailed her and nabbed him. And then they found the tapes.
Prosecutor Bailey and investigator Gillo told (Wife's Name Removed) she should look at those tapes to know the whole story. She says her daughter's therapist agrees. They say she needs to see them to know what she's up against -- and what her daughter is up against -- as the child grows up.
''You get the same emotional feeling as watching a real strangulation,'' Bailey says. ''It's the same as seeing a murder take place.''
(Wife's Name Removed) considered but backed off after her therapist advised against it.
''He told me I didn't have to look at them, that I'd suffered enough,'' she says. ''It's bad enough that I know what's on them. If I look at them now, I might see that film in front of my face for the rest of my life.''
When they married in 1981, (Wife's Name Removed) was 35 and a little desperate. Maybe this really was her last chance for a husband. Her last chance for a home, a family and happiness.
They had met through a dating service -- (Wife's Name Removed), a shy, quiet woman whose social calendar was never busy, and Eugene, a divorced man with two grown children who had only recently moved to Broward County where (Wife's Name Removed) also was living.
They shared similar backgrounds: They were from New York, from middle-class, Jewish families.
And they shared similar interests: They liked theater and movies. And they wanted to have a family.
But visions of marital harmony disintegrated quickly when she learned that her husband only wanted to stay home and dabble with the computer while she worked the long, odd hours that go with nursing. All too often, they fought over money.
The bright spot in their relationship was the birth of their only child a year after their marriage. (Wife's Name Removed) had a good pregnancy, and her husband was at her side when the baby was born. He cut the umbilical cord.
''Nobody was as happy as I was,'' (Wife's Name Removed) says. ''I wanted a little girl and so did he. Only now I know why. He always liked little girls.''
What (Wife's Name Removed) didn't know then, but what came out in court, was her husband's demented and dangerous past. He was a child molester. And he had done time for it.
Before moving to Florida in 1979, Abrams had served 4 1/2 years of a 10-year sentence in a New York prison on 77 counts of rape, sodomy and obscenity. Abrams had photographed himself engaging in sex acts, and among his six victims were children ranging in age from 2 1/2 to 14 -- including his own daughter.
(Wife's Name Removed) says she knew her husband had been in trouble -- some white-collar crime, she thought. She says she did not know that the crime involved pornography -- or children.
Typical of their relationship, she didn't press him for details about that or anything else. In the Abrams' household there already was enough discord. She didn't like to challenge or confront him.
''We fought so much that after a while I was afraid we'd just have another fight and he made it so unpleasant,'' she says. ''I didn't want to start something.''
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They didn't argue often about their daughter because she was seldom a source of friction. Their roles in her life were defined early and clearly. Abrams was the boss because he could make her obey. (Wife's Name Removed), by her own admission, was never a strong disciplinarian.
''He'd tell her to do something,'' she says, ''and she would do it.''
Abuse is what the child has known, almost from the beginning.
What her future holds is yet to be seen.
Abused children, burdened with a nightmare not of their making, can react to the horror later on in their lives. Their pain breaks through in a number of ways -- from eating disorders to promiscuity to other hellish behaviors that are beyond their control.
(Wife's Name Removed) has been told her child is a ticking time bomb. That when she reaches puberty, she will, in the prosecutor's words, ''be a ball of confusion.''
The $18,300 that was confiscated from Abram's suitcase is to be put in a trust fund for the child, to be used solely for counseling. There are those who believe she will need every penny of it.
To her family, she is still the outgoing child she always has been. She shows no fear of strangers. She likes attention. Her favorite pastime is watching horror movies.
Still, subtle signs have surfaced that could signal trouble ahead.
The child repeated kindergarten because she had trouble concentrating. Now 7, she has entered first grade.
One day she told a classmate that all daddies are bad. In therapy, her mother says, she plays a game in which she's on her own. In this game she has no father. And no mother.
Outside of her family, those nearest the child close around her like a protective cocoon. Her teacher will not discuss her progress, nor will the principal. Nor will her court guardian. Nor her therapist. This child, they say, has been through enough.
The detective who first spoke with her described her as candid and up-front in their interview.
During her deposition a few weeks later, she used a vocabulary that might have come straight from a sex manual -- as well as words from the street.
Halfway through the deposition, she said she didn't want to talk about these things anymore. She said she wanted someone to tell her a scary story.
Sitting in an interview room at the South Florida Reception Center in Miami, where he's being held before being assigned to a state prison, Eugene Abrams unflinchingly says he never knowingly inflicted pain on anybody.
He sees himself as sick instead of dangerous.
He refers to the 4 1/2 years he repeatedly abused his daughter as this ''vexing problem,'' as ''this recent incident.''
In fact, Abrams had done this before. When he molested his only daughter in his previous marriage, she was 2 1/2 years old. His contact with her ended after the New York convictions. He can't remember how old this daughter would be today or even when she was born.
He says (Wife's Name Removed) knew about the child pornography conviction but did not know his daughter was involved. They never talked about such things, he says, because the topic was unpleasant.
When he speaks of his daughter and her future, he says he expects she will resent him, that she'll want to ask him why.
''I'll have to come up wth the truth,'' he says. ''I'll tell her I was suffering from a behavior disorder.''
He says his daughter is strong, that she was young when it happened, that chances are she won't have problems when she grows up.
In his eyes, he did not do any permanent damage.
Two weeks ago, for the first time, (Wife's Name Removed)'s daughter -- who had been asking about her father ever since his July arrest -- said she didn't want to see him. ''Because,'' her mother says, ''she's getting angry.''
And (Wife's Name Removed) has been told it's time to join her daughter in therapy so the child can see her mother is getting angry, too.
Slowly, (Wife's Name Removed) is loosening the rope that has tied her so tightly and securely to Eugene Abrams for so long. But the rope still remains; she hasn't cut herself free.
Even behind bars, her husband remains persistent and is still calling. And she is still taking his calls. He wants to know if she'll still talk to him. Sometimes he tells her he's sorry. He asks about his daughter and (Wife's Name Removed) always gives him the same answer: She tells him their daughter is fine.
She says she can't bring herself to tell him to stop calling, that maybe she can do it in a letter.
Months ago (Wife's Name Removed) took off her wedding ring. It's stuffed in a brown paper bag and tucked away in a drawer. She talks of selling the ring, of burning her wedding gown, of tossing the wedding album.
But then she says that her daughter might want that album someday.
She remains in therapy, fighting the depression that tormented her during her marriage. Depression, say therapists, is rage turned inward. And she's still haunted by thoughts she cannot stop: ''I look at every man with a little girl and think, 'What is he doing to her?'''
To this day, she believes her husband was abused as a child though he tells her he was not. She still thinks of him as sick. She finally sees him as dangerous.
Since the discovery of the tapes, her anger has slowly begun bubbling to the surface. Recently, she has lashed out at her husband, finally asking the questions everyone else already had asked: ''How could you?'' ''Why did you?'' ''How dare you.''
A few months ago, (Wife's Name Removed) moved from his house into a home near her parents. She talks of joining a temple because she knows she can't handle this alone.
A few weeks ago, she told her daughter she was getting a divorce.
''Because of what he did to me?'' the child asked.
''Because of what he did to you,'' she told her daughter, ''and I don't love him anymore.''
Not long ago, (Wife's Name Removed) gathered up her husband's clothes and sold them at a garage sale. Afterward, she tossed what remained of the clothes where she thought they belonged -- in the garbage.
For victims of sexual abuse and their families, help is a phone call away.
The following assistance programs operate 24 hours a day, seven days a week, and offer immediate assistance and counseling.
-- Broward County Sexual Assistance Treatment Center: Call 1-305-765-4124.
-- Palm Beach County Victims Services: Call 1-407-833-RAPE (1-407-833-7273). South County residents call 1-407-276-1000.
For those who suspect abuse, the state's Department of Health and Rehabilitative Services operates an abuse hot line. Call 1-800-96-ABUSE.
Caption: (Wife's Name Removed), 44, says she still feels sorry for her husband.(Staff photo/PETER PAOLICELLI)
Eugene and (Wife's Name Removed) were married in 1981. Now, (Wife's Name Removed) talks of selling her wedding ring, of burning her wedding gown, of tossing the wedding album.
Caption: PHOTOS (3, one color, one mug of Abrams)
National Sex Offender Registry - March 3, 2011
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1 comment:
My father brought my brother and I to this wretched man. He tried to abuse me and I ran and stood against a wall while he took pics of my brother. When I got home I screamed bloody murder. I never returned but that brother and at least another returned.
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