Judith Leekin sentenced to 20 years in prison for abusing her adopted disabled children

A Florida Judge sentenced 63-year-old Judith Leekin, to 20 years in prison for abusing 11 disabled children she adopted.

Leekin, who was arrested in July 2007 for abandoning her 18-year-old adoptive daughter at a supermarket, was sentenced in a Fort Pierce, Florida, courtroom yesterday.

Circuit Judge Robert Belanger called Leekin’s actions “reprehensible,” then gave her the maximum punishment allowed in the plea agreement.

According to court documents, Leekin, who is originally from Trinidad and Tobago, adopted the children in NY then moved to Florida in 1998.

Leekin, used four aliases to adopt the children from different agencies, and received more than $1.2 million in subsidies for the disabled children.

After her arrest, police found the children handcuffed together, and most of them had soiled themselves, because they were not allowed to use the bathroom.

She also did not allow the children, who are now in their late teens and early twenties, to attend school, and they had never seen a doctor or a dentist.

In the courtroom yesterday, Leekin told that judge that she was “very sorry” for what she had done.

The state of NY also sentenced Leekin to 11 years in prison for fraud.

That sentence will run concurrently with the Florida prison term.