Mother Pleads Guilty
Va. Woman Faces Up to 51 Years in Death of Girl, 13
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2009/07/06/AR2009070601862.html?hpid=sec-metro
A Prince William County woman pleaded guilty yesterday to charges of leaving her adopted 13-year-old daughter for dead in a frigid creek in January, and county police acknowledged that they could have responded better to numerous reports that the girl was being abused and neglected.
Despite reports made to several county agencies over six years, the girl, Alexis “Lexie” Agyepong-Glover, was not removed from the home, and the case has highlighted shortcomings in the county’s policies on child abuse and runaways.
Yesterday, Alfreedia Leona Gregg-Glover, 45, of the Manassas area pleaded guilty to felony murder, felony child abuse and filing a false police report in Prince William County Circuit Court. She faces a maximum of 51 years in prison, which the county’s chief prosecutor called “an effective life sentence.” She will be sentenced in October.
Court testimony yesterday and comments by authorities tell a long, sad tale of abuse, during which Gregg-Glover was able to persuade authorities to discount Lexie as a disabled, dishonest, habitual runaway.
After the hearing, Prince William Commonwealth’s Attorney Paul B. Ebert called the case “a true horror story” and said he hopes that a judge will impose the maximum sentence.
“There’s no question a lot of mistakes were made in this case, by both the Department of Social Services and the police department,” Ebert said, adding that both agencies are taking steps to change their practices to prevent a repeat of the case.
Calls for comment to Gregg-Glover’s attorney, John V. Notarianni, were not returned after the hearing.
After the plea, county police released the findings of an internal audit that found “deficiencies” in their response to reports concerning Lexie over the years. The audit called for reforms in how officers train, respond to abuse reports and communicate with other agencies.
The report, compiled with the help of the National Center for Missing and Exploited Children, said Gregg-Glover intentionally misled authorities, portraying herself as a “loving and caring mother” and Lexie as a “severely mentally and physically challenged” liar.
It also found inadequate communication between DSS and police and inconsistent practices by police when responding to abuse reports.
Police Chief Charlie T. Deane said three employees — two detectives and a police officer — were disciplined for failing to follow departmental policy. He said one person was given a written reprimand and two were suspended but declined to say which employees received which punishment, citing confidentiality in personnel matters.
“Part of our responsibility is to safeguard children from harm, and it is deeply disturbing to me that we failed to do so in Lexie Glover’s case,” Deane said in a statement. “While there is only one person who caused her death, and that is her mother, Alfreedia Glover, I would be remiss in not stating that there are some things we could have, and should have, done differently in prior investigations with this family.”
Last month, county officials said three social services employees had been disciplined for mishandling Lexie’s case after an internal review by DSS, an agency that also said it would revise policy, said its director, John P. Ledden Jr.
Lexie was first placed in Gregg-Glover’s home in January 2003 and was officially adopted in December of that year, Prince William Detective Carole Tyrrell testified yesterday.
Tyrrell cited more than a dozen incidents dating back to 2004 — more than had previously been known — in which people reported Lexie showing bruises and cuts, being driven off in the trunk of a car, running away from home and showing up at a bus stop wearing only a diaper. Lexie also was hospitalized several times, Tyrrell said.
In one incident in March 2004, officials received a complaint that Lexie was sleeping on the floor and that Gregg-Glover called her names and denied her underwear because she had wet the bed, Tyrrell testified.
In another report, from February 2005, Lexie was found to have a swollen eyelid. Lexie said she had walked into a doorknob, although she was too tall to have done that at the time, Tyrrell testified.
Several of the accounts described in court matched those given to The Washington Post by school bus drivers and neighbors, who came forward after Lexie’s death and said they had reported suspected abuse to police, social services and school officials on numerous occasions.
The medical examiner determined that Lexie died of drowning and exposure, and authorities believe that she was alive at the time she was placed in the Woodbridge area creek, where her body was found Jan. 9.
Felony murder is the unintentional killing of another while committing a felony — in this case, child abuse, prosecutors said. A first-degree murder charge against Gregg-Glover was dropped.
Ebert said he expected the various reforms to prevent a similar case from happening again. But he noted that Lexie’s was not the first child death case in the county to prompt reform.
In 1993, 2-year-old Donnell Robinson was shaken and beaten to death by his mother’s boyfriend, Fatai Olatoni Okedeji, of Woodbridge. In response to the case, the Virginia General Assembly passed a measure requiring social services workers to disclose information about alleged child abuse to police and other agencies. Police complained that DSS had withheld some information from them, citing confidentiality laws.
Three police officers disciplined for Lexie Glover case
By Amanda Stewart
Published: July 6, 2009
The Prince William County Police Department has disciplined three police officers for not following policy during the Lexie Glover case.
The department has completed an internal investigation about its handling of the girl’s case and is making several changes because of it, police department officials announced Monday.
“Part of our responsibility is to safeguard children from harm, and it is deeply disturbing to me that we failed to do so in Lexie Glover’s case,” Chief Charlie T. Deane said in a statement.
He added that “there are some things we could have, and should have, done differently within prior investigations with [Glover’s] family.”
Monday, Alfreedia Gregg-Glover pleaded guilty to killing 13-year-old Alexis, as well as to abusing her and filing a false police report.
During the plea hearing, police listed more than a dozen incidents of abuse of Lexie Glover that were reported to the police and the Department of Social Services since 2004.
A police department report released Monday lists the problems encountered in Lexie’s case and changes that can be made to fix them.
One problem was that Gregg-Glover “intentionally mischaracterized” Lexie, the police department report states.
Gregg-Glover led the police department, the Department of Social Services and various healthcare professionals to believe that Lexie was “severely mentally and physically challenged” and that she was lying about the abuse, the report states.
Another problem arose from the poor communication between the police department and the Department of Social Services.
The internal investigation revealed that there needs to be a better and more consistent way for police officers and social workers to share information about a case.
A third problem the report identified is that police officers and detectives who investigated Lexie’s case used inconsistent techniques.
The police department’s report recommends improvements in training, communication between investigating officers, police department policy and communication between the police department and other agencies, including the department of social services.
Among the changes that will be made are changes to the police department’s policy regarding child abuse and neglect complaints.
The revised policy will require detectives or school resource officers to follow up and investigate every report of child abuse and neglect.
Staff writer Amanda Stewart can be reached at 703-878-8014
