ST. JOSEPH, Mo. — A St. Joseph man is behind bars charged with child molestation. According to police, both the victim and suspect said the abuse went on over a one to two year time period.
FOX 4 has learned that the man, John Lawrence, is licensed with the state to be a foster parent. We know that because of a previous investigation FOX 4’s Tess Koppelman did six years ago. That investigation focused on grandparents living in New York fighting with foster parents in St Joseph over custody of a little girl.
Back in 2007, Maria and Craig Pistole talked to FOX 4 about their court battle. Michael and his sister were taken from their mother, who was a meth addict. Michael is being raised by family in St. Joseph, Mo., but his sister was with foster parents who wanted to adopt her, even though Maria and Craig were approved by the state of New York to adopt. The Pistoles eventually lost the battle. The judge said the little girl spent so much time with her foster parents it was in her best interest to stay with them. Even now, six years later, the Pistoles still can’t believe it.
“I thought there was no way they would give her to someone other than family,” said Maria.
“It seems to defy logic really,” said Craig.
The Pistoles never forgot their little girl, they sent cards and gifts which were always returned. And her room is still ready for her, in pink and blue and a bed covered with stuffed animals.
The Pistoles didn’t want anyone other than them to adopt her but they were especially concerned about the Lawrences. Right before they first went to court, the Lawrences were in the news when because they admitted to duct-taping the mouths of a foster child and a adoptive child as punishment for talking too much. One child said his mouth was duct taped for hours, and he had trouble breathing, but he was too afraid to remove the duct tape.
The Pistoles said they wanted the Lawrences to prove them wrong. They wanted a good life for their granddaughter, even if she couldn’t be with them. But now they fear that their little girl is the victim of sexual abuse. The St Joseph police report says little about the allegations, but we know the victim is a girl less than 11 years old. That’s about the age of the Pistole’s granddaughter.
“Our hope was that that it wasn’t our granddaughter,” Craig said, “but of course it’s someone’s granddaughter no matter who the victim was.”
The Pistols know they have few legal rights since the Lawrences are the adoptive parents now. But they are filing court papers anyway to ask for guardianship of their granddaughter.
“We’ve decided to fight and we won’t let this drop,” Craig said.
Maria says she wants her granddaughter to know that they did everything possible to fight for her and she wants her to know this too:
“That I pray for her everyday,” Maria said as she broke into tears, “and that we’re sorry our efforts weren’t successful, and that we’re praying that the damage isn’t too deep.”
John Lawrence is being held in jail without bond because the judge says he continues to be a threat to the child. The Pistoles also are concerned about how many more victims might be out there. FOX 4 tried to speak to the state about how long John Lawrence has been a foster parent and how many children have been in his care over the years but so far we’ve had no response.
