All in(sane) the family

Mind boggling news out of Central Florida-

TAVARES -- The 32-year-old husband and father faced the rest of his life in prison, charged with multiple counts of sexually abusing his two girls, even raping one at gunpoint.

So he turned to his parents for help. And they agreed, authorities said -- even if helping meant killing their three grandchildren to prevent them from testifying against him.

Lake County deputies Tuesday arrested the couple -- she's 59, he's 64 -- and charged them with plotting to hire a hitman to kill their son's wife, 10-year-old daughter, his 16-year-old stepdaughter and 14-year-old stepson and the family dog.

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The Orlando Sentinel is withholding the names of the grandparents and parents to protect the identities of the children. The newspaper generally does not publish the names of the victims of sex crimes, especially children.

I've written on the Orlando Sentinel's sister paper, The Sun-Sentinel(Both papers are part of the Tribune Co.) about its failure to name criminals in the past. Here I agree with the paper, only because it could indirectly lead to the naming of the children.

Deputies and the distraught wife spun a bizarre story of a desperate man whose parents helped finance an escape to Georgia after the girls accused him of molesting them. Since that day in October, according to the wife, the parents have mortgaged their Tavares home to help pay their son's attorney bills and -- deputies say -- pay for a hitman.

Acting on a tip from another inmate, deputies warned the wife two weeks ago what her husband and his parents were plotting.

Then they set up the sting.

In a Tavares Best Western hotel room Tuesday, the grandmother unwittingly offered an undercover deputy a $100 incentive to kill "all" of them, according to the arrest report, while the grandfather waited in the car because he "was too scared."

Each was arrested on four counts of criminal conspiracy to commit murder. They are being held without bail in the same jail as their son, who authorities say orchestrated the hit.

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This was the grandparents' most recent effort to help since November, authorities said. That's when deputies issued a warrant for their son on more than 50 charges, including 48 felony counts of sexual battery -- he is accused of raping his stepdaughter since she was 12 -- and one felony molestation charge of abusing his 10-year-old daughter.

What a loving wonderful family this is. NOT! If these people are guilty, I hope they all get the punishment they rightly deserve.

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