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After Plea Deal, Former Landlord Wants To Clear Name

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Many of the residents at Daphne Jones' boarding home in August 2007 were homeless or without resources and were taken in with no promise of payment. Seven were refered by DCF.

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By VALERIE KALFRIN | The Tampa Tribune

Published: January 8, 2009

Updated: 01/08/2009 01:13 pm

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Daphne Jones

TAMPA - Former boarding home operator Daphne Jones said she considers taking care of the downtrodden a "ministry" and wants to clear her reputation.

Jones, 37, pleaded guilty this morning to one count of culpable negligence, a second-degree misdemeanor. Under a plea agreement, prosecutors reduced the charge from a felony count of adult abuse and dropped 17 other felony charges against her of "adult abuse negligence."

The charges stemmed from Aug. 9, 2007, when police removed 18 tenants from a West Tampa boarding home she operated above a hair salon. Police and the tenants, several of whom are elderly and disabled, said they slept in bunk beds and on pallets on the floor, and were living without air conditioning.

Circuit Judge Ronald Ficarrotta sentenced Jones to six months of probation and 25 hours of community service. He withheld a finding of guilt in the case.

Standing with her attorney, Lyann Goudie, Jones said she didn't believe she did anything wrong but decided to take the plea so she can move on with her life.

"It affected every part of my life," Jones said.

She said people have recognized her from media reports and said disparaging comments to her in public, including at her son's school.

Her son, 13, has cerebral palsy, according to public records. His father is former professional baseball player Keith "Kiki" Jones.

Goudie said a former employee who had been living rent-free at the boarding home at 2347 W. Beach St. complained about the conditions there after Daphne Jones reprimanded him. As luck would have it, investigators arrived on "a day the air conditioner had gone kaput," Goudie said, noting that someone had been there earlier to fix it and needed additional parts.

The charge to which Jones pleaded involves an elderly resident who was diagnosed with dehydration on the day police removed the tenants, Goudie said. She and Jones attributed the woman's condition to the broken air conditioner.

The plea agreement "shows to everyone that the initial charges were overblown and exaggerated," Goudie said.

Assistant State Attorney Pam Bondi, a spokeswoman for the prosecutor's office, said that case law requires "a much higher legal standard to establish a felony charge."

According to state statutes, felony neglect of an elderly or disabled adult involves the failure or omission to provide necessary food, shelter, clothing, supervision or medical services.

Rick Escobar, Jones' previous attorney, previously described the boarding home as being in a poor community and catering "to individuals that are either homeless or have nowhere else to go. … This is not a nursing home. This is not an adult living facility."

Today, Goudie said that several workers from the Department of Children & Families had given depositions on Jones' behalf that she would take in people who had nowhere else to go. Many were homeless or without resources and were taken in with no promise of payment.

DCF had referred seven of the people living at the boarding home at the time of Jones' arrest, records show.

After Jones' arrest, the Florida Agency for Health Care Administration investigated allegations that she had moved residents from an adult family care home at 5608 Puritan Road to the boarding home. The agency revoked Jones' license in November 2007 and fined her $20,000, saying she had stopped operating the facility from her home, failed to notify the agency of this change, did not give up her license and failed to make her facility's records available.

Goudie said that Jones does not have a license to operate such a facility again, but she has continued to work with her church to feed the homeless and take in people who need housing.

"She is a very positive person," Goudie said. "Hopefully, this will exonerate her."

News Channel 8 photojournalist Kate Caldwell contributed to this report. Information from the Tribune archives was used in this report. Reporter Valerie Kalfrin can be reached at (813) 259-7800.

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