Saturday, December 04, 1999
Rape suspect sought to adopt toddler
BY SHEILA McLAUGHLIN
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Roy Puckelwartz
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LEBANON — A former Warren County foster care worker was trying to adopt a 2-year-old boy in Florida when he was jailed this week on charges of raping a teen-ager six years ago at the Midwestern Children's Home in Harlan Township.
Officials with the Florida Department of Children and Families had second thoughts about the adoption placement Thursday and opened an investigation to determine whether it should proceed.
The investigation was spurred by inquiries from The Cincinnati Enquirer about Roy Puckelwartz and his possible involvement in the Florida foster care system.
Authorities have been hold ing the 44-year-old minister at the Pinellas County Jail since Wednesday on a fugitive warrant from Warren County in the alleged 1993 rape of a 13-year-old boy.
Caseworkers with the children's agency and child abuse investigators with the Pinellas County Sheriff's Office decided Friday to allow the toddler to stay with Mr. Puckelwartz's wife, Bonnie, at the couple's home in St. Petersburg.
“He's currently in jail. They went to the house and did a check and talked to the family members and made the assessment that the child was not in any immediate danger. They didn't find any conditions that would warrant removal of the child,” sheriff's spokeswoman Mary Pasha said.
The child, a nephew of the Puckelwartzes, was placed in the home in January while the couple completed the adoption process, said Elaine Fulton-Jones, a spokeswoman for the children's agency.
Ms. Fulton-Jones said caseworkers were not aware of Mr. Puckelwartz's arrest or the allegations against him until Thursday. “We would never consider placing a child for adoption with anyone who has a background like this,” Ms. Fulton-Jones said.
However, the agency's records indicate that Mr. Puckelwartz, who recently worked as a gym teacher at a private Christian academy in St. Petersburg, was approved to begin adoption proceedings even though he was accused of performing oral sex on a 12-year-old neighbor boy in Mobile, Ala., in 1978.
That charge, listed as a “crime against nature,” was dismissed according to police records, which don't indicate why.
Ms. Fulton-Jones said Mr. Puckelwartz was questioned about the incident and provided a letter of explanation. She was not sure Friday what the letter said.
“We can't disqualify him outright on that because (the charge) was dismissed,” Ms. Fulton-Jones said.
Instead, the information would be kept as part of the case file and would be considered as part of a home study to decide whether the adoption is approved, she said.
Mr. Puckelwartz is jailed without bond. An extradition hearing to determine whether he will agree to return to Ohio to face the charges could be held in Pinellas County as early as Thursday.
He and his wife had been employed for nine months as residential foster parents at Midwestern when officials there fired Mr. Puckelwartz after allegations surfaced that he made sexual overtures to a 16-year-old boy at a church in Michigan.
In early 1994, the 13-year-old boy at Midwestern reported he was raped, and another resident told authorities that Mr. Puckelwartz had abused him. No charges were filed at the time.
Warren County sheriff's detectives reopened the case this summer after a third former resident said Mr. Puckelwartz had touched him inappropriately. All of the alleged victims are now adults.
Midwestern Children's Home, an operation of the Churches of Christ, provides foster care for troubled children in Warren, Butler, Hamilton, Clermont, Brown and Clinton counties.
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