Couple post bail in case of baby's death

Lamoy and Joseph Andressohn, the Homestead couple
accused of starving their 5-month-old daughter to
death, walked out of jail Tuesday after posting bail.

The Andressohns have been in jail on manslaughter
charges since June, a month after their youngest
child, Woyah, died. Authorities say the child was fed
only wheat grass juice, coconut water and almond milk.

The Andressohns, who are now under house arrest,
posted a $75,000 bail for Lamoy and a $50,000 bail for
Joseph. They will not be allowed contact with their
four other children, who were placed with relatives.

The couple also had to surrender their passports,
cannot leave their home and must wear ankle bracelets
that allow authorities to monitor them while they
await trial on their charges, said Miami-Dade County
jail spokeswoman Janelle Hall.

Friends of the family say the Andressohns, who told
authorities they followed a strict raw-food diet for
religious reasons, are devastated about not being able
to see their children but are struggling to overcome
their circumstances. Authorities also have charged the
couple with four counts of child neglect, saying the
four other children were malnourished.

"This is an ordeal, as it would be for anyone," said
Dexter George, an attorney who has befriended the
family since their arrest but does not represent them.
"They're strong people," he said.

In trying to fight the charges against them, the
Andressohns will have to overcome numerous past
allegations that their children were malnourished, a
case detailed in hundreds of pages of documents
released Tuesday by the state Department of Children &
Families.

The records show that the child welfare officials had
received three prior abuse reports about the family
before Woyah died, the last coming just days before
her death.

Woyah weighed less than 7 pounds when she died May 15.
Prosecutors said she suffered from severe
malnutrition.

The last time a state investigator visited the
family's home was on May 12, 2003, a day after someone
reported to the agency that the Andressohns were
feeding their children a diet that consisted solely of
vegetables and fruits, according to a review the
agency conducted of Woyah's death.

That day, child protection investigator Tiffany Hunter
visited the family's home but was not able to see
Woyah because the girl was out with her father.
However, Hunter did note that the children appeared to
be thin and that one had a bloated stomach.

Hunter asked Lamoy Andressohn to bring the baby to her
office the next day. When Lamoy Andressohn did not do
so, Hunter did little to follow up with the family,
according to the report.Diana Marrero is a reporter
for the South Florida Sun-Sentinel, a Tribune
Publishing newspaper.

Mark



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