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From how the original sexual abuse charges unfolded, to the key elements of the
prosecutor's case against the Fusters, to how Ileana Flores, in the years since
the 1985 trial, has changed her story three times.
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| She was the state's star witness in the 1985 Miami child molestation trial of
Frank Fuster, her former husband. She talks about how she met and married
Fuster, their arrests, the threats she says state investigators made; the
brutal conditions in jail and the late night visits from the Dade County state
attorney at the time -- Janet Reno. Ileana tells FRONTLINE in this interview that
her damning testimony against Fuster was the result of a concerted effort by
Reno's office to break her down physically and psychologically and make her
testify against her husband. She also explains why, years later, she recanted
that original trial testimony, subsequently retracted that recantation, and,
why we now should believe her when she says Fuster is innocent.
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| Frank Fuster was convicted in 1985 of sexual battery, lewd assault and
aggravated assault involving children who attended the in-home day care center
run by his wife Ileana. He was sentenced to six life terms plus 165 years in
prison. He talks about the evidence against him in the trial, why he refused
the state's deal of 15 years in prison in exchange for a guilty plea, and his
previous criminal record. This interview was conducted in July 1998.
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| Noel Goodman is Frank Fuster's son. Following his father's arrest in 1984,
prosecutors announced that 6-year-old Noel had tested positive for gonorrhea
of the throat. The testing method, however, was later called into question.
After Joe and Laurie Braga -- child experts hired by the Dade County state attorney's office -- questioned the 6-year-old Noel in a videotaped session, he
reluctantly admitted his father might have molested him while he was sleeping.
Now 24, Noel talks about the Bragas' interviewing tactics and how they "were
playing games with a 6-year-old's head."
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In this article, freelance writer Debbie Nathan, who has written extensively on child sexual abuse allegations, dissects the many serious problems with the Fuster case's evidence, Ileana's original confession, and the way the story of this case was portrayed nationally in Jan Hollingsworth's book and the related television docudrama, "Unspeakable Acts." Nathan also examines Hollingsworth's relationship to the prosecution of the Fuster case. [Issues in Child Abuse Accusations, Winter 1993]
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This site, maintained by Amy Gershenfeld Donnella, Frank Fuster's current appeals attorney, contains legal documents filed on behalf of Frank Fuster. It includes several affidavits from medical professionals on the issues of repressed memory syndrome; whether the children's testimony was tainted by leading interviews; and the validity of the disputed gonorrhea test.
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