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Tuesday, December 19, 2017 HOME OF THE WORLD’S MOST FAMOUS BEACH @dbnewsjournal daytonabeachnewsjournal $1

S P E C I A L R E P O R T : C H I L D H O O D B E T R AY E D
Beach
panel
‘CHEATED’ OUT OF JUSTICE delays
final list
Makell Ware’s parent’s sold her body; Florida’s laws
let them ‘walk away’ with short sentences
of ideas
Volusia beachside
committee still working
on recommendations;
list will be complete
in a few months

By Eileen Zaffiro-Kean
eileen.zaffiro@news-jrnl.com

DAYTONA BEACH— When

the Beachside Redevelop-
ment Committee started its
meeting at the Ocean Center
Mondaynight,thehopewasthe
14-member group would agree
on a list of ideas to improve the
peninsula from Ormond Beach
toDaytonaBeachShoresbythe
timethemeetingwasgaveledto
a close.
That didn’t happen, and
it looks like it won’t happen
now until February or March.
County government staff
tasked with echoing the
6-month-old committee’s
goals in a priority list put a
general rough draft together
with the intent of later adding
more details to the items that a
majority of committee mem-
bers wanted to keep.
But a few minutes into
Makell Ware was adopted by Holly Ware after years of abuse at home, including being drugged and sold to men for sex. Makell’s discussing the 10-point rec-
biological mother is serving a five-year prison sentence, and will be released in 2019. Her father has already completed a prison term. ommendation list, it was clear
[NEWS-JOURNAL/LOLA GOMEZ] somecommitteememberswere
wondering why they didn’t see
more developed ideas after
By Suzanne Hirt News-Journal. She has undergone exten- About this project meeting monthly since June.
suzanne.hirt@news-jrnl.com sive therapy to combat her addiction and “I think it has to have more

I
restore her mental health. “I don’t really Daytona Beach News- meat,”saidcommitteemember
t started with a pill— a seda- know if I ever realized what was going on Journal reporter and Daytona Beach Shores
tive before bed, a powerful because when you’re a kid, you automati- Suzanne Hirt spent Mayor Harry Jennings. “We
painkiller to cure a headache. cally think to trust your parents, and that’s months documenting have to restructure it. I would
The dosage grew gradually, turn- what I did.” how underage girls never present this to my City
ing teenager Makell Graves into an By age 14, Makell’s mother was shooting become victims of Council in this form. It has to
addict. Then the injections started. narcotics into her veins in the bathroom of sex crimes in Volusia be totally re-written.”
From that point, Makell can recall her the family’s DeBary home, then selling her County. She pored over Jenningssaidhedidn’thavea
childhood only in fits and fragments, to strange men for sex, sometimes for as police records and inves- problem with what was on the
mangled in her memory by the trauma that little as a single prescription pill. tigative documents, list, but he didn’t like the way it
followed. The drugs wiped many markers of time interviewed sex crime was presented.
What she does remember she’d rather and place from Makell’s memory. But she victims and their family
not conjure — nauseating visions of being thinks the drugs and sexual abuse went members, and attended See PANEL, A13
bound and battered as old men violated her on for about two years before local law court hearings. Among
body and mind. enforcement poured into her quiet neigh- her findings: Preda-
Afterward, her mother would drive her borhood and removed her and her sister to tors are difficult for law More online
home. safety. enforcement to bring to
“I’ve kind of always known there was Makell’s parents, Michael and Cynthia justice, and solutions to Watch our video from
something different between my life and improve the system are the meeting at news-
other kids,” Makell, now 19, told The See CHEATED, A6 difficult to find. journalonline.com.

N AT I O N | A 1 1

AT LEAST 3 KILLED
WHEN AMTRAK
TRAIN HURTLES
OFF BRIDGE

BUSINESS | A12

WEEKEND FIRE
CANCELS 1,400
FLIGHTS AT
ATLANTA AIRPORT

Volume XCIV, Issue 353 Abby........................... D3 Puzzles ..................D3, D5 TO DAY W E D N ES DAY T H U RS DAY

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A6
A8 Tuesday, December 19, 2017
CHILDHOOD BETRAYED
Makell Ware, 19, lives in DeBary with her new family and is dual enrolled to gain college credit while completing her high school education. She and her adoptive mother, Holly
Ware, have been pushing legislators to strengthen Florida’s human trafficking law. [NEWS-JOURNAL/LOLA GOMEZ]
CHEATED
From Page A1
Graves, were arrested three
months later. But under
Florida law, the parents
were able to trade pleas for
light penalties. Meanwhile,
Makell’s sentence stretches
out before her with no end
in sight.
Feeling “cheated” out
of justice by the punish-
ment meted out to her
parents, Makell has come
forward, identifying herself
in the media to advance her
intent to push legislators to
strengthen Florida’s statute
on human trafficking.
Sex trafficking “is not
happening somewhere far
away from us like every-
one thinks,” Makell said.
“It’s literally happening all
around you. People either
choose to ignore it or they
have no idea what it is.”
‘You don’t have
to lie anymore’
Holly Ware wasn’t
expecting the frantic
voice she heard when she
answered a call from Cyn-
thia Graves. “They’re taking
my kids!” Graves screamed.
“Please don’t let my kids go
to foster care.”
Ware loved Makell’s
younger sister, Kaytee, like
a daughter. Her longtime
partner had a daughter Kay-
tee’s age and the two girls
were close friends.
Kaytee had spent three
summers and countless
weekends at Ware’s home.
“Mama Holly,” as Ware
was known, often had paid
for Kaytee’s school clothes,
immunizations and doctor
visits.
Kaytee was a “good girl”
who talked about “God and
boys,” Ware said. When
Ware drove Kaytee home,
she’d see Makell outside,
scantily clad and smoking
a cigarette. Ware thought
Makell was a stoner and a
street thug.
After hearing Graves’
phoned plea that late
summer afternoon in 2014,
Ware agreed to meet the
girls at a state Department
of Children and Families
facility where they were
taken to be interviewed.
There, she got the full
story.
Graves had decided to pick
Kaytee up early from her
Orange City middle school.
She took Makell, who hadn’t
been to class in two years,
along for the drive.
On their way home, a
neighbor called with a
| The Daytona Beach News-Journal
warning: Law enforcement
had surrounded the Graves
residence.
Graves went home
anyway. When they arrived,
Volusia County deputies
escorted Makell and Kaytee
inside to pack their bags.
Later at the DCF office,
Ware’s assumptions about
Makell were shattered in
seconds.
“(FBI agents) said (Make-
ll’s parents) have been IV
drugging Makell and selling
her to their drug dealers,
and that’s called human
trafficking,” Ware recalled.
“My jaw fell to the floor. I
just thought she was this
little pothead. I felt shame
for judging her.”
That was all it took to shift
Ware into “mama bear”
mode. “You’re gonna come
stay with me,” she told
Makell. “You’re gonna be
safe.”
Makell was skeptical.
The first time investigators
questioned her, she lied.
“Both my parents would
coach me into thinking
(what they did to me) was
OK, and if anything were to
happen, to take the fall for
THE PERPETRATORS
Cynthia Graves, Makell’s
biological mother, is serving
a five-year prison sentence
after pleading no contest to
prostituting her underage
daughter for drugs.
Robert Richards was accused
of raping Makell Ware when
she was 15. He died before his
case went to trial.
it so they wouldn’t get in
trouble,” Makell said.
Ware convinced her to
come clean.
“(Ware) looked at me
and said, ‘Makell, I know
you don’t know me like
that, but (the authorities)
know everything and you
don’t have to lie anymore,’”
Makell recalled. “And I said
OK.”
Ware’s daughter, Reagan,
was waiting for Makell
outside the interview room.
“She just hugged me,”
Makell said, blinking back
tears. “I will never forget
that day.”
That night, Makell slept
on a mattress in Ware’s
living room. Ware stayed
close on the couch to remind
Makell she was safe.
“I slept for the first time in
two years,” Makell said.
Sold for sex
Arrest reports fill in some
of the memory gaps Makell
would prefer to leave empty.
They tell how Robert
Richards, 60-year-old
owner of Fresh Off the
Hook restaurant in DeLand,
Michael Graves served a
prison sentence after pleading
no contest to child abuse.
Prosecutors say he was
drugging his daughter when
she was underage. He was
sentenced to a year and a day
in prison.
John Szolosi, 70, is serving a
10-year sentence for having sex
with Makell Ware when she was
15. He paid Makell’s mother one
Xanax pill for sex with the girl,
according to investigators.
handcuffed Makell’s hands
behind her back and then to
a bedpost while he raped her
with an object as another
young woman watched.
When Richards was
finished, Cynthia Graves
picked up Makell and the
other young woman — one
of several Graves pros-
tituted, records show
— demanded payment from
Richards and drove to Del-
tona to purchase pills.
Makell was 14.
She usually was “sedated”
during sexual encounters,
but not always. Sometimes,
Makell recalled, her mother
would say, “We need money
so we can get our drugs, so
I need you to do this. It kind
of just became like a nor-
malcy or routine in my life
for a while.”
Makell thinks she was
12 the first time her par-
ents medicated her. She
had watched them openly
abuse drugs for years. “They
didn’t try to hide it,” she
said.
They fed her progres-
sively stronger pills, and
then began injecting lique-
fied narcotics — Dilaudid,
Xanax, oxycodone — into
her arms, buttocks and
between her fingers. Once
her parents started shooting
her up with drugs, Makell
said her memories became
muddled.
“There were times when I
would wake up in someone’s
house, or I have little mem-
ories of driving to Sanford or
just like little bits here and
there,” she said. “But, you
know, the more time that I
try to heal, I remember more
and more from flashbacks
and dreams and stuff like
that.”
She recalls a Sanford
neighborhood haunted by
drug dealers, addicts and
prostitutes. “(My mother)
knew everyone in that
neighborhood,” Makell said.
Graves could count on
collecting cash from two
Sanford men in particular,
an informant told investiga-
tors. To one, Graves sold
shoplifted steaks. To the
other, she sold Makell.
Police reports refer to
those buyers as “James”
and “Reggie.” Reggie was
an active member of the
military, according to an
informant. Reggie rented
hotel rooms for sex acts with
Makell and her mother to
hide his illicit activities from
his wife. Neither man has
been prosecuted.
Makell believes her
mother sold her to eight
different men, includ-
ing at least three in
Seminole County. Only two
of the men — both in West
Volusia — have been pub-
licly identified.
Richards, the DeLand
restaurant owner, was a
regular. His reputed pref-
erence for underage girls
attracted FBI attention.
Besides Makell, Richards
liked to hire young female
employees he could entice
with money or gifts in
exchange for after-hours
sex, a confidential source
told investigators.
Cynthia Graves planned to
start selling Kaytee as well,
the source said, but Makell
intervened. “No, take me,”
Makell insisted.
Richards was arrested
Dec. 17, 2014, the same day
as Makell’s parents. He was
charged with child abuse
and two counts of lewd or
lascivious sexual battery on
a child age 12 but less than
16.
He died while await-
ing trial.Records do not
show the cause of death.If
convicted, Roberts would
have faced up to 35 years in
prison.
In comparison, Makell’s
parents received relatively
light sentences.
Michael Graves pleaded
no contest to child abuse.
He was sentenced in late
August 2015 to a year and
a day, with credit for six
months in Volusia County
jail. He was released in
February 2016 after five
months in prison, and
returned to his DeBary home
for three years of supervised
probation.
A month after her hus-
band, Cindy Graves pleaded
no contest to procuring
a minor for prostitution,
deriving support from the
proceeds of prostitution
andchild abuse. She was
sentenced to five years in
prison. She’s scheduled for
release April 5, 2019.
Reliving the trauma
“Five years? Am I only
worth five years?” Makell
asked Ware when she heard
the news of her parents’
short sentences. She was
devastated.
But part of the chal-
lenge for prosecutors was
Makell’s state of mind as a
result of the trauma she’d
experienced.
In sex crime cases, it’s
common for prosecutors
and defense attorneys to
discuss a plea that does not
require the victim to testify,
Assistant State Attorney
Shannon Peters said.
The deposition pro-
cess alone is “very
rigorous,” Peters told The
See CHEATED, A7

CHILDHOOD BETRAYED
CHEATED
From Page A6
News-Journal. A defense
attorney’s role is to protect
the accused, and though
some handle victims with
care, others take the oppor-
tunity to intimidate.
When Makell was
scheduled to speak with
prosecutors, she experi-
enced mental and emotional
upheaval and was not able to
follow through.
“You’re confronted with
forcing a girl to come into
court whether she’s having
seizures or throwing up,”
Peters said.
A trial would have
required Makell to relive
her trauma yet again and be
cross examined in a public
courtroom.
“She didn’t want to have
to face the perpetrators in
court,” said Peters. (Though
Makell has come forward
in the media, prosecutors
are prohibited from naming
her.) “If the victim isn’t
willing to come to court
and (testify), we don’t have
a case. If you don’t make
a plea deal and they don’t
come to court, you don’t get
a second bite of that apple.”
Had Michael Graves gone
to trial, he could have been
sentenced to five years in
prison. Cindy Graves could
have faced25 years, but five
years was “what the defen-
dant was willing to plead to
without putting the victim
through a deposition or any
court proceedings,” Peters
said.
Still, Makell said she felt
“cheated” by the justice
system.
“I think if my parents had
been charged the proper
way in the beginning and
served what they deserved,
I would probably be in a
different place with every-
thing,” she said.
‘The law let us down’
An investigation by the
Volusia County Sheriff’s
Office revealed Cindy
Graves was “sex traffick-
ing (Makell) for money,” an
arrest report states.
Human trafficking, a
first-degree felony, carries
a maximum prison sentence
of 30 years. But Cynthia
Graves wasn’t charged with
human trafficking. No one
has ever been prosecuted for
human trafficking in the 7th
Judicial Circuit, comprised
of Volusia, Flagler, St. Johns
and Putnam counties.
Makell is seeking support
among Florida’s legisla-
tors to change that. Aided
by Don Mair, who helped
draft Gabby’s Law after his
daughter was hit by a car
and killed at a school bus
stop, Makell is advocating
for a rewrite of Florida’s
human trafficking statute.
The proposed bill empha-
sizes harsher penalties
and removal of plea deals
for those charged with the
crime.
“The law let us down,”
Holly Ware said, “so let’s
change the law.”
State Rep. Tom Leek,
R-Ormond Beach, said he
is working with the House
of Representatives’ crimi-
nal justice staff to draft an
effective bill, but it will not
be completed in time for the
2018 legislative session.
Leek, an attorney, said the
punishment Makell’s par-
ents received for “one of the
most atrocious crimes I can
think of being committed is
offensive.”
But, he added, “We have
to make sure to give law
enforcement and the state
attorney the discretion they
need to put together the
best case they can without
unnecessary restrictions.
It was easy to recognize the
problem, but it’s hard to
find a solution that works.”
Florida’s human traffick-
ing law requires prosecutors
to prove the victim was
subjected to force, fraud or
coercion. Proof of coer-
cion is usually developed
through victim testimony,
Holly and Makell Ware. [NEWS-JOURNAL / LOLA GOMEZ]
Peters said.Drugging a child
for the purpose of sexual
exploitation is a form of
coercion, but there must be
a direct connection between
the two. In Makell’s case,
Peters said, “Every time
(her parents provided her
with drugs), it wasn’t for the
purpose of sexual acts.”
Makell’s father — though
guilty of giving his underage
daughter drugs — was never
alleged to have sold her for
sex.
“The charges we used
didn’t have to prove coer-
cion and covered the facts
exactly,” Peters said. “I
don’t think the problem is
what we charged. The end
result is what people are
upset about.”
Leek said the solution may
be to change the standard
of proof from coercion to
facilitation. While it may be
difficult to prove the pur-
pose of Makell’s mother’s
actions was to sell her for
sex, Leek said, “What (her
patents) did by drugging her
is they took away her abil-
ity to reject, her ability to
reason.
“What I do know is par-
ents who sell their kids into
the sex trade should not be
able to walk away with (a
short sentence),” Leek said.
“There’s got to be a better
solution.”
A taste of justice
In June 2016, nine months
after her mother went to
prison, Makell suffered a
flashback to a sexual assault
by a man she could only
identify as “Buzz.” Ware
notified the FBI.
The next day, FBI agents
drove Makell to her parents’
home and she directed them
turn by turn to the door of
John Szolosi of DeBary.
Szolosi, 70, pleaded no
contest to lewd or lascivi-
ous sexual battery, but later
THE ADVOCATES
“IF THE VICTIM ISN’T
WILLING TO COME TO
COURT AND (TESTIFY),
WE DON’T HAVE A CASE.
IF YOU DON’T MAKE A
PLEA DEAL AND THEY
DON’T COME TO COURT,
YOU DON’T GET A SECOND
BITE OF THAT APPLE.”
Assistant State Attorney
Shannon Peters
“I DON’T KNOW IF I REALIZED WHAT WAS GOING ON
BECAUSE WHEN YOU’RE A KID, YOU AUTOMATICALLY
THINK TO TRUST YOUR PARENTS.”
Makell Ware
admitted his guilt to the
court. Szolosi told investi-
gators he paid Cindy Graves
a single Xanax for the sex act
with Makell.
New charges were filed
against Graves, too. But
the incident had occurred
during the date range
already covered by her plea.
In the months leading
up to Szolosi’s sentencing,
Makell returned to school.
Outwardly, she seemed
like any other University
High School student. But
the trauma she has suffered
still lingers. One day earlier
this year, she pulled into
the school parking lot for a
typical day of classes when
memories simmering below
the surface struck without
warning.
She panicked and dialed
Ware, whom she now calls
“Mom.” Ware officially
adopted Makell and Kaytee
in 2015, and both girls have
taken their adoptive moth-
er’s last name.
Ware calmed her. “You’re
in control. You’re not
trapped. You can drive
home.”
When she reached home
that day, a wave of nausea
hit Makell the moment she
stepped through the front
door. She vomited again and
again until she blacked out.
Ware put her to bed. When
Makell awoke, she shared
previously suppressed
details from her hours-long
encounter with Szolosi.
“That (memory) was
actually so traumatizing,”
Makell said, “I had to tell my
mom what I remembered
and what happened because
I couldn’t physically write it
down.”
“WHAT I DO KNOW IS
PARENTS WHO SELL
THEIR KIDS INTO THE
SEX TRADE SHOULD
NOT BE ABLE TO WALK
AWAY WITH (A SHORT
SENTENCE). THERE’S
GOT TO BE A BETTER
SOLUTION.”
State Rep. Tom Leek
The Daytona Beach News-Journal
Awaiting sentencing at his
home earlier this year, Szo-
losi toldThe News-Journal
he had “a lot of feelings”
about what he did to Makell.
Leaning against his
doorframe, an ankle moni-
tor hidden under his jeans,
he indicated a desire to
express those feelings,
but ultimately declined
to divulge them without
his attorney present. His
attorney, Michael Nielsen,
did not respond to multiple
attempts to contact him.
Szolosi was sentenced in
September to 10 years in
prison and declared a sex
offender.
ToMakell, Szolosi’s sen-
tence felt like justice.
When Ware arrived home
from Szolosi’s sentencing,
Makell ran outside to greet
her in the driveway.
“What are we gonna do
now?” Ware asked as they
wiped away tears.
Makell answered, “Live
our lives.”
‘I want to be a kid’
“Pretty but stupid” is
what Makell said her parents
called her. They pulled her
from public school soon
after she started seventh
grade.
A teacher came to her
house at first, and she was
expected to complete her
courses online. She didn’t,
and the teacher quit coming.
When Ware took cus-
tody of Makell and Kaytee,
Makell should have been
a high school freshman.
Instead, Ware re-enrolled
her in middle school. She
made honor roll.
“She did a 180 in a week,”
Ware said. “She wanted to be
a good kid. She didn’t want
to be what they made her.”
Makell will graduate high
school in May, and is dual
enrolled at Daytona State
College. She had planned to
pursue a nursing certifica-
tion, but is now considering
a career in law enforcement.
She still has counseling
three times a week. Patrick
Nave and Diena Cannavino,
founders of Bikers Against
Trafficking, give their ser-
vices free to Makell at their
state-licensed addiction
treatment and counseling
center, Ware said.
Survivors of sex traf-
ficking have wounds
and addictions they will
deal with for the rest of
their lives, Nave told The
News-Journal.
“Something that hap-
pened 30 years ago can be
triggered by a movie. Every-
thing is still in the brain.”
Scent, he said, is the big-
gest trigger, and can catch a
survivor off guard.
For Makell, each day is a
| Tuesday, December 19, 2017 A7
minefield.
Last year, a grocery shop-
ping trip took a dark turn
when an elderly man passed
Makell in the aisle. The “old
man smell” plunged Makell
into a disturbing memory.
She crumbled to the floor in
hysterics.
“In that moment, you
don’t feel like you’re in
the middle of a store. You
feel like you’re back in that
bad situation,” Makell
explained. “And all I had
was my mom to just stand
there and hold me and tell
me, ‘It’s OK, you’re safe.’”
The threat of a sneak
attack from her subcon-
scious lingers. Makell still
lives in DeBary. Ware has
moved them to a new neigh-
borhood. But at any turn,
Makell worries she could
encounter her father or
grandparents or previously
unidentified rapists.
“For the longest time I
was literally running out of
stores and just running from
anyone in my past and any-
thing that reminded me,”
Makell said. “It hasn’t really
been until recently I’ve tried
to stop running, but it is
hard to go into Walmart.”
Walter and Esther Graves,
Makell’s grandparents,
live with Michael Graves.
Esther said her son won’t
talk about the case. She and
her husband are “very upset
that we can’t see (Makell
and Kaytee),” she told The
News-Journal. “We’ve tried,
but (Ware) won’t let us.”
Michael Graves was
prohibited by law from
contacting Makell until
she turned 18. Makell said
her dad doesn’t have her
number, but if he called
she’d have some choice
words for him.
Makell didn’t want to
celebrate her 18th birthday.
“I didn’t get to be a kid,”
she told Ware. “I’m not an
adult. I want to be a kid.”
In recent months, she has
finally started sleeping in a
bedroom rather than in the
living room with Ware.
And another significant
thing has changed: Since
Szolosi’s sentencing — and
the toll it took on her mental
and physical well-being —
she’s decided not to pursue
prosecution of any perpe-
trators she remembers in the
future.
“Even when there’s no
more court hearings or
interviews like this, we’re
not going to be a completely
normal family,” Makell said.
“But we’re all just really
ready to just be done with
this.”
Series schedule
Sunday: Exploited to Death
Monday: Michael Boland’s
Criminal Trail
Today: ‘Cheated’ Out of Justice
Wednesday: Group Home
Runaways
Thursday: A Search for
Solutions