A 9-year-old girl raised in a west suburban brothel was scared when she heard “strange things” coming from the basement bedrooms, a judge was told.
But the little girl still wants to live with the madam who adopted her and her 3-year-old sister at birth, a therapist testified in Cook County Child Protection Court.
Kimberly Miniea, 51, Wednesday made her first appearance before Judge Richard Stevens since the Sun-Times revealed that vice cops secretly taped her bragging that her Berkeley brothel serviced a VIP client list – a “who’s who of politics.”
Miniea’s adopted daughters, at least one of whom Miniea was taped boasting that she’d “bought” from a heroin addict, have been in foster care since her December 2010 pandering bust. She denies buying the girls and is trying to get them back, but the Cook County State’s Attorney and social service agencies want her parenting rights permanently revoked.
Miniea, whose older, biological daughter was convicted of helping her run the brothel, has said that she shielded her younger children from the sex business.
But in court Wednesday, Lutheran Children and Family Services therapist Sabrina Herrera testified that the 9-year-old girl was scared by the “strangers” who made noises downstairs with a prostitute who lived at the brothel.
The 9-year-old wants to be reunited with Miniea, who she calls her “mom,” but also feels safe in foster care and “is conflicted,” Herrera said. “She needs to know what’s going to happen to her.”
The Sun-Times revealed last month that former Cook County Judge James M. Bailey had helped Miniea take guardianship of the girls. Miniea called Bailey her “boyfriend,” according to court records. Bailey denied that and any wrongdoing.
The case is due to continue next Wednesday.
