First and foremost, this GoFundMe is a petition to save a 7-year-old girl from enduring further abuse while in the care of her father, but may have a wider impact on the Central Florida community than just our family. Let me explain...

How do I start? My wife of less than a year and I were horrified to find out from her youngest child, who I will call "Angel," that her father had been leaving her unattended in a locked room without food or bathroom access for extended periods of time. It explained why she would always eat large portions after returning from his care. Concerned, we called DCF (The Department of Children and Families), who then sent an investigator to interview Angel about the potential negligence. In the course of the interview, she disclosed any parent's worst nightmare, that she had been molested by a stranger in a dark "scary place" where her father had left her. You can imagine my wife's devastation for her little girl, compounded by the weight of the abuses she and her oldest two children had suffered at the hands of this... man.

There are just too many incidents to chronicle the physical and psychological abuses and the drug and alcohol-addled behavior that this family has survived before her arrival in it. For Angel, it started while still in the womb with her father pushing her mother down a flight of stairs. Now that she is old enough to speak out, she has found her courage. Her stories match that of her mother and older siblings, who have all endured and escaped his verbal and physical abuse. However, Angel remains in threat of that danger should her father retain custodial rights.

A 7-year custody battle has now become a war for the safety of a child. Learning of the nature of the allegations, our family attorney, who has already been paid what money we could put together to fight for custody, has advised that this is beyond his abilities to pursue effectively. He has advised other more specialized counsel who has 13+ years of experience prosecuting abusers and sex criminals who could give this case the expertise it needs to succeed.

This is where your help is needed initially, but remember how I said this could impact more than just our family? Remember the "scary place?" Surely a place as described by one victim has had more victims with more stories. Once our initial goal to pay for an appropriate attorney (who has already been approached and is very interested in pursuing this case) is met, the remainder of the funds acquired will be put towards the investigation of the "scary place" described by Angel and all those involved. This location is within a short drive of the Rockledge area, right here in our own backyard. We want to put an end to this place, not just for our Angel, but for all of the little angels in our community.

We cannot do this on our own. We need help and support for our family and for our community, but most importantly to us, for a little girl who has suffered too much already with her own father as her assailant. Please hug your angels tonight. Hold them close to your heart every night and keep them safe. God bless.