potters house girls home?

[Anonymous]

  I was at Sandy Lopes Potter House when I was pregnant with my son in 1997. I was 14 at the time and I was wondering if anyone was there in 1997? I am trying to find out what happened to some of the girls that were there at the same time I was. Feel free to contact me at harleycpl7578@yahoo.com. 

[Rosita03]

My name is Rosita Rodriguez and I was 16 when I was sent to the Potter's House via a recommendation from the youth pastor at my church. This place is still open and I'm trying to get it shut down for good. I wrote a review about the place that kind of explains a little bit of what I went through. My friend that went there was forced to give up her baby to adoption just because none of the "Leadership" (girls who have been there for over 2yrs and told you what to do) liked her, while another girl who they loved got to keep her baby. I helped to get this place shut down temporarily but I see that it re-opened. Please let me know if there is anything I can do to help. Having a daughter of my own I can't let this place continue their disgusting ways. My email is FutureMrs.MacLennan@gmail.com if you want to help put these backwoods perverts in jail.
 
 
"I attended during the summer of 2003 along with 20+ other girls. This girls home is ran by an older couple in their 70s (back then) named Sandy (woman) & Manny (man). They charged my parents and most folks $800/month supposedly for food & board, forced you to give up custody of your kid to them, and addamantly pitched to the parents that they were active christians and would teach their children better morals then those they came to the home with. On the day you arrived, both owners were present, they assured you that Sandy would always be present, any unchristian items were taken away from you, and your hand was tied to another girls hand (who'd been there for a long time) in front of your parents to show the seriousness of their words in front of them.                                             What they DIDN'T tell you is that they used that money to buy a dozen horses, and Sandy was NEVER present (which left Manny to "tend" to the girls alone) because she would take their daughter & grand-daughter up to North Carolina with a horse of two to race them. Some of the girls were promised that they would be allowed to ride the horses as long as they signed a contract stating that they would wake up at 3-4am cleaning up horse crap, clean the stables, then finally wash and fully groom each horse on a day-to-day basis. These girls already had other chores to do on top of that and would miss school because of it.            Now as far as paying for food comes into play, they should be charged with for starvation and feeding under aged kids rotten food. They would get expired and moldy food from a nearby grocery store to feed us. For breakfast/lunch we'd have 15mins each course to stuff our faces with who knows what and if we didn't our chores perfectly then they would take away our time to eat and time to sleep. Girls would try to get their chores done so badly that they'd miss meals (if you'd call them that) and sleep. Isn't that border line torture?                          Now as far as Manny goes he shouldn't be allowed to step miles near any child. During the first week my shoulder was sore so he attempted to give me a sensual message to which I elbowed him and told me to never touch me again or else. I understand that they want to "help" girls out but you don't touch someone else's child and there is NO excuse. I had to pull a girl out of his lap because because she said that her head hurt so he told her to put her head in his lap because  "the power of god runs through me" and began to message her head and shoulders. There was a girl that I we were all convinced was having relations with him. She was constantly obsessing about how great he was, and always all over him. The reason why we thought that there could even be a possibility is that he never pushed her off of him, told her that it was not right because he was 55yrs older than her and that he was married, and in fact would call her over to sit RIGHT next to him. A girl was caught sleeping with a knife under her bed because she was scared of him. For all of our chores we earned points to visit/call our family but they would always get taken away for some b/s reason. So when my family demanded to visit I told them exactly what was going on and threatened to take me out right then and there. They would have, but the thing is that YOU HAVE TO GIVE UP YOUR PARENTAL RIGHTS IN A CONTRACT GIVING CUSTODY TO THESE TWO STRANGERS YOU KNOW NOTHING ABOUT. So Manny threatened to call the cops and have my grandmother who can barely walk arrested and told them flat to their faces that he can do whatever he wants and get away with it. This is a scam and your daughters will be forced to spend months with a pentecostal old pervert while his wife takes your money to ride horses. She could care less and was in fact known to beat up on the girls if they didn't listen to her. Punches, choke-outs, belts..the phrase was "anything to get you down".                                                                                            After my family left from the visit I received extreme punishment, 5min meals, no school, and hardly got to sleep. 2 weeks later my family threatened to sue and reveal the happenings of the school. I still think to this day they should have and I am trying to track down the girls I went there with to make sure it closes for good. After I left another girl from my church was sent to the girls home and had VERY similar experiences. Her father had to be taken away by family members because he was about to beat the crap out of Manny for touching his daughter. Please hear my warning."

[Oscar]

What happened to "Cassie"? A webpage indicate that she died just 8 months out of the program.

Second, we noticed a obituary of Alissa Marie Taylor. Is it the same person?

[Oscar]

Reviews from Insiderpages:

agreed... disgusted (One Star)
by nonya112 at Citysearch 

i also wish to not state my name as to the connections they have. i dont know about the sexual abuse cause manny never physically touched the girls when i was there. hm... where to start. well when i first came there i was court ordered so yes i was a troubled teen. yes, they took me and the girls to church, and i can say that manny and sandy are NOT the ones who changed me at all. it was myself and making the choice to believe in Jesus as my lord, the people at the church are the ones who led me there. it says that you get counseling and whatnot at this program but as far as manny or sandy they did not. as for some of the reviews stating about precautions that you would receive being there if you made even a tiny mistake, i can vouch and say they are out of this world. i remember being outside for hours at a time like from 8 in the morning to i wanna say 8 at night working in the summer heat. i asked to go to the bathroom and got screamed at and punished for it. sandy does use the girls for personal slavery. i was so behind in school because all i did was slave away. all they talk about is the world is ending and if you are not perfect then you wont be in heaven. for this reason, i have serious paranoia and i cannot enjoy life like i used to. i am for 90% of the time depressed. dcf has been called many of times on this house and nothing has been done about it because sandy does scare you into lying to them for fear of not being able to go home because she will lie to the parents and say you did something wrong. yes, she brings you to movies and shopping but i feel its a tactic to make you think for a bit that you are really not in such a bad situation. they are extremely rascist and will bluntly talk about it. if you are so christian than you should know that God created all men, not just white men. i member staying up til 3 in the morning wrapping gifts for only their toddler. if you walk into her cottage, you cannot even go through the halls because its filled to the top with things that she takes for herself that are supposed to be donations for the girls home. onto that note, if the parents are paying for the child to live in this home, and they receive thousands and thousands of dollars in donations, and united way gives them a grant every year why are the girls eating expired donated food from kash and karry(now sweetbay)? i recently applied for food stamps as to i was struggling, and when i was accepted i received no card. my husband called dcf to find out what was going on and they said that i already had one. but funny thing is i never applied for food stamps in my life. they then told me it was located at the address 140 dunty road lake placid fl. i asked my mom if she signed any papers about medicaid or food stamps cuz i know i didnt and she didnt either. i asked if it was ever active at one time and it was back when i lived at this house. so i wanna know why sandy and manny were able to fill three to four fridges up of food to the top and the girls had only donated food never bought?.... so they are playing the state too. but as someone else said they have so many connections that im sure they will never get caught. they said that if the girls left the program early they would end up dying. well out of all the girls that i heard of or knew only 3 out of 100's are a success. think about that. i never finished school because i am one who got pregnant but because i was scared of not living a life as to the world was ending. i could say alot more but what is the use. oh and speaking of therapy... i want to say the only thing sandy considers therapy would be defacing somebodys belongings (i mean egging an exboyfriends close to new mustang) she went so far as to buy two cartons of eggs and bring a few girls dressed in black and drove them to his place of work and sandy was the lookout.

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Stop them now!! save these girls (One Star)
by StopTHEM at Citysearch

DO NOT SEND YOUR DAUGHTER THERE!!! IF SHE IS THERE GET HER OUT NOW!!! I was a girl there. I was sexually abused before being sent there and a victim of neglect and abuse with a severe eating disorder and horrible depression. They do not provide counseling and when I told sandy I was purging in the bathroom and severely depressed she called me "a pain in the a** and tied me to another girl and made me wear a sign that said I have a big mouth that I cant keep shut". I went so far as to leave in a tampon for three months praying to die of toxic shock syndrome when my depression peaked. I was drowned in that pond out front in the middle of the night, made to eat a bowl of salad with mold all over it because I let a brown piece slip past me when making dinner and moldy salad was my punishment, I was also forced to spend a 3days in 105degree weather without water shoveling horse pop for Sandy's garden because I loved school and books were my escape they would punish me by denying me school and books. They tortured me. I have reported it to child services but the girls in there are forced to lie for fear of repercussions. Your daughters may act changed but they have no choice I cant tell you the torture they will endure if they say a wrong thing. You will be off the phone or gone after the visit and there will be nobody there to protect them. I had bibles thrown at me, was forced to sleep outside when the wheat-er went down to forty degrees and was sleep deprived. Prayed every night for death. I am twenty-five now. A 4.0 GPA college student and still suffer post traumatic stress disorder. Any parent who leaves there child here should be charged with child abuse and forced to pay restitution to the child for as long as they live for the irreversible mental ailments the child will suffer. As for sandy and Manny, I hate you for what you did to me!!!! I dare you to summons me for speaking the truth so I can counter that for child abuse, negligence, child endangerment, and intentional infliction of emotional duress with malice intent, as well as close down the fraud you have going on and save these girls you are currently imprisoning. Parents get your daughters help at the right place. I beg the world to shut this place down!!!

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A former student at Potter's house girls home (Five Stars)
by tashawiliams at Citysearch 

Hello my name is tasha williams i was at the potter's house for 2 and half years! It was a long hard road for me! Before i came to the home i was trouble teen that didn't know anything, but thought i knew everything! But after being at the home for 6 months MRS< SANDY AND MR, MANDY SHOWED mr loved and caring arms ! THey are wonderful people! They help me to change into a better person! Let me tell you if they could change me they can help anyone and change anyone for the better! They are very nice and thoughful of others! WEll if you decide to go there just be open minded and wiiling to learn! Because you can't espect everything to be ok in 3 months to a year it took me 2 years to grow up and be adult but that is me! Always remember that god loves you and only want the best for you! They done lot of things for us like go to the movies and go shopping and they always make sure that are safety is first nothing eslse well that is all for now.

[murph8225]

Potter's House is an evil place.  I was there from 97 to 2000.  I attended Cassies funeral, we had the same birthday and unbreakable spirit.  If there is a route we can take to close this place down, I have about 15 girls that will back it up.  And all those happy stories, I told those to, when I was being coherced.  The things the girls and I could tell a judge should make it so that the Lopes spend their future in the torment they created for us.  Email me if you want at murph8225@gmail.com

[tulip]

Nice sharing man, Keep it up.