Five years after Waldina ''Waldy'' Flores began molesting 12-year-old Lauren, the Plantation family learned of the abuse and contacted the authorities.

In 2002, the nanny pleaded no contest to child molestation and was given a 15-year-prison sentence, to be followed by 15 years' probation. A judge warned Flores, now 36, not to contact Lauren or any member of the Book family ever again.

Still, the relationship continued.

This afternoon, a Broward judge will weigh whether to punish Flores for sending Book love letters from prison. Judge Michael L. Gates could tack as much 120 years on for violating the terms of her sentence. As a Honduran citizen, Flores faces deportation when her prison term ends.

Observers say her letters -- she sent several but only three made it to Lauren -- will likely cost Flores at least a decade more of prison time.

But the story gets more complicated. Lauren, now 20, initiated the correspondence. Lauren also sent her money.

''They are making a mountain out of molehill,'' said Flores' defense attorney, Charlie Kaplan.

The state doesn't see it that way. Neither does Lauren's father, well-known Broward lobbyist Ron Book. He and his wife Pat brought Flores into their home after getting her name from a placement agency. Flores came highly recommended, Book said.

''She spent seven years with our family,'' he said, wiping tears away with the back of his hand. ``There aren't a lot of days that you think about it and don't cry.''

He wants to see Flores die in prison.

Lauren is more circumspect. She wants assurance that Flores will never molest another.

MIXED FEELINGS

On a recent afternoon, she recalled encounters in a closet, a beating with a chair and then, not a minute later, she spoke warmly of the last time she saw the woman at the family home. Flores was wearing red flannel pajamas and walking their dog.

''I don't know to this day if I hate her,'' Lauren said, chewing on a wad of blue bubble gum.

The confusion is common in such cases, experts say.

''These offenders are very good at bonding,'' said Dr. Edward Sczechowicz, a forensic psychologist in Coral Gables who has treated thousands of child molesters. ``If everything is absolutely terrible, the children would run in 10 seconds.''

Flores' notes to Lauren sound like the musings of a high school girl separated from her heartthrob for a summer. ''I will always love you and I belong to you,'' Flores wrote in a letter sent in February 2003. ``My heart is with you and my soul, too.''

The notes are packed with smiley faces, exclamation points and hearts.

Dr. Fred Berlin, founder of the sexual disorders clinic at Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, said that sex offenders sometimes have a genuine affection for the child they abuse. ''It's clearly very inappropriate and wrong,'' Berlin said. ``It doesn't necessarily mean there was malicious disregard.''

AFTER-EFFECTS

The damage, whatever the intent, can be serious.

For Lauren, the relationship led to a long bout with anorexia. She has conquered her eating disorder, but said she still has great difficulty making friends and trusting others. Lauren said it didn't help when, at the plea hearing in 2002, when Flores mouthed the words ''I love you'' to her.

''It set me back,'' she said. ``I thought it was my fault.''

email this

print this