Detroit mother Maryanne Godboldo faces multiple felony charges and is being held on $500,000 bond after a 10-hour standoff with a heavily armed police SWAT team. Godboldo was protecting her 13-year-old daughter from unnecessary medication ordered by the state.
Godboldo's daughter was born with a defective foot that required amputation of her leg below the knee, which led to Maryanne becoming a stay-at-home mother after her birth, according to Health Impact News Daily.
Despite her handicap, the child swam, sang, danced and played the piano. However, as the home schooled girl approached middle school age, she apparently wanted to start attending public school, and therefore had to "catch up" on immunizations the state insists are required under color of law.
According to her aunt, Penny Godboldo, the girl suffered an adverse reaction to the immunizations. "She began acting out of character, being irritated, having facial grimaces that have been associated with immunizations," Penny told the Detroit News.
Maryanne Godboldo sought help from the Children's Center, an organization claiming to help families with at-risk children. Godboldo told relatives the medications ordered by the doctor worsened symptoms, including behavioral problems.
When Godboldo refused to give her child the prescribed medication, Child Protective Services became involved. CPS obtained a warrant to remove the girl, but Maryanne reportedly refused to surrender the child to the state.
Police claimed Godboldo discharged a firearm in her apartment during the stand-off and that is when the SWAT team was called in.
Maryanne's attorney, Allison Folmar, claims her client never shot at police in a report in the Voice of Detroit, which reports that the police sent the "Detroit Special Response Team (SRT) officers who descended on the home with a tank and assault weapons. Video footage shows individual officers staking out the house, taking cover behind trees with their weapons, as in a military operation," reports Health Impact Daily News.
The Detroit News reports that Godboldo has an excellent reputation in her community, and during the 10 hour standoff many people from the community offered to help with the negotiations, including ministers and community activists.
Wayne Circuit Judge Deborah Thomas finally convinced Maryanne to surrender with a promise her daughter would be turned over to a relative. Family members, however, say the girl was grabbed by the state regardless of the promise.
Maryanne Godboldo was arraigned before 36th District Magistrate Sidney Barthwell Jr. on charges of firing a weapon in a dwelling, felonious assault, resisting and obstructing an officer, and use of a firearm in the commission of a felony. Her bond was set at $500,000.
"I'm shocked by the amount of the bond. I never dreamed it would be set so high and she wouldn't be free to care for her daughter," said an outraged Deborah Thomas.
"Child Protective Services was trying to force her child to take a dangerous medication, Risperdal, against her will. We have been able to get a court order signed by [Wayne County Circuit Court] Judge Richard Skutt, staying the administration of this drug, which is not approved by the FDA in such cases. That's why they put her in Hawthorne, so they could dope her up," family attorney Allison Folmar told the media.
The Godboldo case is yet another example of CPS working in league with the police in order to kidnap children. Godboldo was obviously an excellent mother and not a threat to the police. The fact they sent a tank to her apartment is more evidence that the state will react in a violent knee-jerk fashion when its authority is challenged.
Officials: Detroit girl taken in standoff doesn't need meds right now
Authorities have determined there is no emergency need for a 13-year-old girl to be on medication, after the girl's mother was accused of medically neglecting her by not giving her a psychotropic drug.
The girl has been in state custody since Child Protective Services workers showed up to take her, prompting an hours-long standoff between her mother and police.
Judge Lynne Pierce said during a hearing in Wayne County's juvenile court Wednesday that a jury trial in the case will begin June 8.
The girl's mother, Maryanne Godboldo, is accused of firing a gun at officers when CPS came to her Detroit home take her daughter.
Godboldo has said she should have the right to decide treatment for her daughter, whom she was weaning off the drug in favor of holistic methods.
Though officials said Wednesday that there was no immediate need to give the girl medication, Michigan Assistant Attorney General David Law said he may reintroduce the issue later if the need arises.
"They took her unlawfully," Godboldo said after Wednesday's hearing.
Godboldo has said she noticed changes in her daughter's behavior after a series of immunizations in 2009.
Mia Wenk, a CPS worker, testified earlier this month that she filed a petition containing multiple allegations of neglect, along with the order to take the child into protective custody, two weeks after she became involved in the case March 10.
An amended version of the petition was submitted to the court earlier this month.
Pierce will rule on emergency motions by defense attorneys on April 22.
Godboldo's attorney, Wanda Evans, has filed motions to dismiss and to relocate the child from a care facility in Northville, where she has been since shortly after the standoff with police ended March 25.
Pierce requested the child's advocate find out whether the girl can be medically discharged and placed with a qualified family member.
"I'd love to get this child into a family member's home," but the court, Pierce said, "has to follow the law."
