Inset: Gwendolyn Rolle (St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office). Background: The Florida home where Gwendolyn Rolle allegedly abused five children, ages 4 to 9 (WPEC/YouTube).
A Florida pastor is accused of starving her five “foster kids” while her own daughter got to eat KFC and Popeyes in front of them. She also forced the kids to bathe with a “garden hose” and use a bucket as a toilet while the biological child got access to a bathroom, cops say.
Gwendolyn Rolle, 59, faces five felony counts of child neglect without great bodily harm in St. Lucie County after her alleged abuse was uncovered by Fort Pierce police following an anonymous complaint.
The arrest warrant for Rolle, who is not a licensed foster parent, outlines how she neglected the other children while favoring her own daughter in front of them. The non-biological kids are all siblings, ranging in age from 4 to 9.
“[The daughter] gets special treatment such as getting to use a toilet instead of a bucket to go to the bathroom in, she gets to shower, and get better food such as KFC or Popeyes,” the arrest warrant says, citing statements given by one of the victims.
“Sometimes [the child] and her siblings do not get to eat dinner due to Gwendolyn not letting them eat and have to go to bed hungry,” the warrant alleges. “[The child] stated that she was forced to shower on her front patio while her siblings would hold a sheet to cover them since only one bathroom has a working shower. [The child] stated her siblings would rotate out of holding the sheet and showering with a garden hose and soap.”
Rolle, who is a pastor at New Hope International Church in Fort Pierce, says she took the foster kids in after their father abandoned them, according to police. Officers went to Rolle’s home on June 2 after receiving a complaint from an anonymous tipster about “child abuse” that was allegedly taking place, per the arrest warrant.
“Since Gwendolyn is a pastor and held to a higher standard within the community, [the tipster] has always been afraid to speak out on anything,” the warrant says, noting how the tipster told police that Rolle “has foster kids in her custody and treats them very poorly.”
Rolle allegedly admitted to only having “one working restroom due to one being out of order for repairs,” but claimed she bathed the foster kids regularly. The children and school staff told investigators that the children were regularly “bullied at school due to them smelling bad because they are not allowed to shower and do not have clean clothes to wear,” according to the arrest warrant.
One of the children told police “when she goes to school, she is sometimes given perfume or a spray to mask the odor from not showering so other kids would not bully her,” the warrant says. “Gwendolyn keeps her bedroom door, the only access to the working bathroom, locked even when she is home. [The child] said that they must get Gwendolyn’s permission to use that bathroom and that Gwendolyn primarily only unlocks it for [her biological daughter] to use the bathroom.”
The children accused Rolle of physical abuse, as well, including slaps to the face and other physical strikes. She also allegedly called them “b—ards” and when she did choose to feed them, it was either leftovers from food they were provided at school or “ramen noodle packets,” per the arrest warrant.
An anonymous person in the community told police she would let the children come over and stay at her home. “Her living room smelled horrible after the children slept there, due to the odor emanating from their bodies,” the warrant says. “She said that she has tried giving the children food, clothes, and toys, but that Gwendolyn always confiscates the items and either throws them away or gives them to [her biological daughter].”
Rolle has since bonded out from jail after her arrest. She has been assigned a public defender.
