NEWSFlorida Politician Defends Tiger Woods in Child Abuse Allegations
Jan. 12 2010, Published 7:43 a.m. ET
With all the negative media attention surrounding Tiger Woods and his family, one politician is putting her foot down in defense of the pro golfer. Republican Florida Senator Rhonda Storms is sticking up for Tiger against reports that he abused his children. Sen. Storms is demanding the state's Department of Children & Families investigate if someone filed the potentially libelous report against Tiger and his wife Elin Nordegren after news broke of his sex scandal, South Florida's Sun Sentinel reports.
Sen. Storms sent a letter to DCF Secretary George Sheldon stating that whoever placed the Dec. 11 phone call to an abuse hotline to investigate the welfare of Tiger and Elin's children ignited unnecessary trauma for the family, the Sun Sentinel reports.
She said she believes it was done to "keep the media celebrity attention going."
"To use the resources of the state for some grand celebrity theater is completely unacceptable," Sen. Storms wrote in the letter, which was cited in the Sun Sentinel. "It robs children who are legitimately in danger."
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When Child Services investigated Tiger's Florida home on Dec. 12, they found the couple's children Sam Alexis, 2, and Charlie Axel, 11 months, safe and at no risk of abuse.
The children were home at the time of the domestic spat between Tiger and Elin on Nov. 27.
"Call me a cynic, call me skeptical but it's not beyond the pale to think that this was done by somebody in the celebrity-entertainment circle," Sen. Storms told the Sun-Sentinel. "I don’t think that stretches credulity to arrive at that conclusion. But it could just as well have been some person, like a hanger-on, just a person who follows celebrity."
Sen. Storms said she feels whoever exacerbated the rumors and called child services should be prosecuted to the fullest extent.
If caught, the accused could be facing possible criminal charges including a five-year prison term and fines of up to $10,000 for the libelous act.
