Cape Coral woman sentenced to prison for abusing her 10 foster children

A Cape Coral woman who abused her 10 foster and adopted children has been sentenced to five years in prison and 10 years of probation.

Jenise and Daniel Spurgeon were arrested in 2016 after three of their daughters escaped the home and called 911.

Daniel was sentenced in 2020 to 25 years in prison.

It was emotional in the courtroom on Friday as two of the Spurgeons’ former foster children spoke directly to the judge and to Spurgeon about the brutal abuse they faced in their home.

Jenise pleaded guilty to abusing her 10 foster children in court.

When the three girls escaped, police were able to rescue the other seven foster children, several of whom were malnourished, suffered from scabies and suffered sexual and physical abuse and were kept from medical and dental treatment for years.

One of the victims told the judge though many have heard about the horrific abuse, she and the other victims are the only ones who fully understand the impact.

“I was placed in Jenise’s custody in 2011 and that was when the nightmare began,” one of the victims said during their victim impact statement in court. “There are no words to describe the pain my sisters and I went through in the five years we were in that house. What happened to my sisters and I, no one should have to experience. We were beat, starved, and neglected at the hands of this monster who portrayed she would protect us until we were placed back in our mother’s custody.”

Jenise also pleaded guilty to charges in Alabama, where she and her husband abused their children prior to moving to Cape Coral where the abuse continued.

She has yet to be sentenced in Alabama on 11 different counts of child abuse. Her Alabama sentence will be served concurrently with the sentence in Lee County.

“After many years, we are still dealing with the trauma the Spurgeons put us through but that hasn’t stopped us. We have continued to thrive and overcome so much.”