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Girl Hurt In Wreck Needs More Surgery

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By VALERIE KALFRIN

vkalfrin@tampatrib.com

Published: February 22, 2009

TAMPA - The survivor of a drunken-driving crash on the Selmon Crosstown Expressway is facing serious surgery and a custody battle, her grandmother said Saturday.

Five-year-old Summer Moll went home with her maternal grandparents last month after enduring multiple operations at Tampa General Hospital, and needing casts on her arms, a brace on her neck and pins in both legs.

The child lost her mother, Jennifer O'Boyle, in September after Cheryl Maria Riemann, 26, of Ruskin, according to police, smashed head-on into O'Boyle's vehicle while driving the wrong way on the lower portion of the expressway. Riemann is awaiting trial on DUI manslaughter and vehicular homicide charges.

On Saturday, grandmother Tammy Rosian offered to speak to reporters outside the hospital, where Summer returned this week after doctors discovered an infection beneath a plate put in her head.

Rosian said Summer appeared to have gone through the worst when she was discharged last month. Her family celebrated her birthday at Disney World.

Then doctors discovered the infection Feb. 17 during a routine exam. They operated on the child Friday.

"We've had a lot of news, and that was a lot to take. I myself went two days without sleep," Rosian said.

A surgery scheduled for Tuesday will transfer muscle from Summer's back to her head so doctors can try a new skin graft, Rosian said. "This is going to be the most crucial surgery she has had."

Summer remains cheerful, her grandmother said.

Summer's father, Joshua Moll, visited his daughter in the hospital, Rosian said.

Rosian criticized his recent driving-under-the-influence arrest.
Tampa police arrested him Feb. 17 on a misdemeanor DUI charge. He is free on $500 bail, jail records show.

Rosian at first said Moll's arrest was "something he has to deal with," then broke down.

"I'm upset. This is what put her there," she said of drunken driving. "People just need to think. ... It disgusts me."

Moll and the Rosians are facing a custody dispute in the coming months.

Rosian also said she was distressed by an advertisement posted Jan. 29 on Craigslist, touting a drawing with $10 tickets to win a week's stay at a Clearwater vacation condo. The ad says the proceeds would benefit Summer, but Rosian said, "We don't know anything about it."

Rosian said her lawyer called the phone number in the ad Friday and received a vague response. "We're trying to get that pulled off of Craigslist," she said.

The woman who placed the ad, who identified herself only as Cynthia, said Saturday afternoon that she did not realize she needed the family's permission before organizing any fundraiser.

"There were no bad intentions on my part," Cynthia said. "That's horrific to think anyone would use her granddaughter to benefit themselves."

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