Miranda Wilkerson: Grandma Loses Custody of Florida 3-Year-old To Sex Offender Father

The bitter custody fight for Florida preschooler Miranda Wilkerson ended last week when a Jacksonville judge shifted guardianship from the 3-year-old's grandmother to her father, a registered sex offender, ABC News affiliate WJXX-TV reported.

Miranda's mother, Trista Crews, was still married to her estranged husband, Donald Coleman, in 2007, when she died in a car wreck, Jacksonville's First Coast News reported.

Coleman was 38 in 1997, when he impregnated a 14-year-old Crews for the first time. He was later convicted for sex with an underage woman. The couple nonetheless married.

Coleman filed for divorce from Crews about a month before her death, stating he believed Miranda was another man's child. The girl was raised by her grandmother, Rita Manning, whose bid to formally adopt the girl sparked the custody battle.

According to court documents obtained by First Coast News, the grandmother was keeping him from seeing Miranda.

"Once you're serving the father, then it triggers ego and pride and fathers don't just disappear. They always show up to fight," adoption attorney Michael Shorstein told ABC News.

Both Coleman and Manning have criminal histories. Manning was charged with child neglect around the time her daughter first became pregnant by Coleman, ABC reports. She was also charged with contributing to the delinquency of a minor in 1995, though those charges were later dropped.

Florida State Rep. Janet Adkins weighed in on the case, telling ABC she was "appalled" by the decision, which sent the tot across state lines to Georgia, where Coleman now lives, on Wednesday.

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Comments

[bbalballs]

11:20 PM on 09/06/2011

good luck to granny&lilgirl

[Metalman324]

05:12 PM on 07/24/2011

Ok, It is very clear to me that people posting did not read the article. Any of you that posted that this guy is a sicko, needs to never post again, and never vote, because you all read the bold print, and not the information provided to you. The grandmother has every right to be upset. The father has won this battle with the courts, and I praise him for his courage and diligence on this matter.

[gemzenith]

07:21 PM on 07/24/2011

Metalman he started having sex with the mother when she was 14 years of age,He was 38 at the time. I think maybe that's the issue folks have with this.

[SkreetGil1]

05:10 PM on 07/24/2011

Florida is a messed up state!

That poor child. Now, she's going to a sex offender.

She'll be damaged beyond repair, I fear.
Especially, after seeing the woman in the trailer that lives with him.

What woman would live with a sex offender. A damaged one.

Oh that poor child.

[tamihunter45]

04:54 PM on 07/24/2011

You know, if men had it their way, it would be open season on little girls. It's getting that way as it is. There is a difference between a MAN and just a guy with a peter. Just because you have one, it doesn't make you a man. It's to bad that THEY don't understand the difference.

[rewith85man]

03:29 PM on 07/24/2011

For the judge or whoever to give an innocent girl to a dangerous sicko, that tells me that his or her mind is really fu**ed up.

[rewith85man]

03:27 PM on 07/24/2011

Whatever happens to this girl will be on the law's case and not just that pervert.

If I could hold them accountable, I won't hesitate to do so.

[ImaBeast]

12:32 AM on 07/24/2011

God almighty......As a Florida resedent all I can say is there are a couple decent people left here. I think. ...
F*#K it!

I'M MOVING!!!!

[wallacerabbit]

09:01 PM on 07/23/2011

leaving a sex offender with a child, that's just like givg a drug addict a needle full of drugs.

[grumbles]

09:15 AM on 07/23/2011

what, in the devil is in the water in FL? if the judge in this case isnt reviewed, there is no justice. this poor child!!!!!!! i am speechless.......

[kellyslk]

12:58 PM on 07/22/2011

Great Florida! YOU DID IT AGAIN? What's up with that state? I mean "let's" just send this little girl to her sex offender dad! Sure, he'll take care of her. If he doesn't respect others how in the hell do you think he'll treat the child? HELLO! Just setting him up for failure. I just pray the little girl doesn't suffer or go through anything because of this decision!

[spacelink500]

04:30 PM on 07/21/2011

it is wrong to give this child to a sex offender father who could destroy this little girl emotionally, i think the grandmother should raise her especially if she loves the child. it really makes me sick thinking that the state could do this. please reverse this and send her back to her loving grandmother.

[Oregonian76]

11:23 AM on 07/21/2011

While I don't condone a 38 year old & a 14 year old having a relationship, if they ended up married and had multiple children, why does he have to continue to be referred to as a sex offender? Context is key here. It seems like the sex offender label is being used to invoke an emotional response and to have people ignore what it sounds like is simply a case of "we don't like the age difference and she was too young the first time around". How is he a sex offender if he got married to the woman he had the inappropriate relationship with?

Something tells me we're not getting the whole story here...

[Shebagirl]

07:09 PM on 07/21/2011

Oregonian: It appears that he also didn't believe the child was his - all the more reason not to let him have custody.

[tamihunter45]

04:51 PM on 07/24/2011

Tell me, is there OXYGEN in the air in the state of Oregon? If so, perhaps you need to drop your drawers and give your brain some much needed oxygen! YES! He IS still a sex offender!! She was a CHILD! AND she can't legally get married in Florida without the consent of a judge at the age of 14 and who, if HE is in his right mind, wouldn't let her marry a ( so called ) man that age without jailing him. He's a PIG and I can NOT believe that the ( so called ) Judge let him have that baby ESPECIALLY if he doesn't think she's his!

[Oregonian76]

12:56 PM on 07/25/2011

You can't reply in a more civil manner? Why the need to insult someone you don't know?

I specifically said I DON'T condone the relationship. Yet you're jumping on me like I said it was okay in some way. I don't need you to remind me about age of consent; I can look that list up online anytime.

The man can "think the child isn't his", but has there been a DNA test to confirm that? Will it change anyone's tune if the child does turn out to be his?

I still think we should consider the context here. Their relationship started out inappropriately, but ultimately the woman was of age and they continued their relationship.

How is it any different than a teenage couple where the guy is 19 and the girl is 15? It's technically illegal, but we let it pass all the time. And don't give me "38 is way different than 19". We're talking about legal/illegal in terms of consent that can't be given by a minor.

[amd02148]

10:34 PM on 07/20/2011

If they were married during the time Miranda was born he is the father.

[Dale McKissick]

10:16 PM on 07/20/2011

Is the people of florida, gonna let this pervert have this child? I would have thought that then state would have learned from the casey anthony screwed up so call trial? I pray this child become another statictic like caylee was

[AcaciaJules]

01:09 AM on 07/22/2011

The couple married! He is her father, period. It's not like he was arrested for molesting children.

[kellyslk]

01:00 PM on 07/22/2011

DAHHHH! Can you or did you read the article? Here ya go...............Coleman was 38 in 1997, when he impregnated a 14-year-old Crews for the first time. He was later convicted for sex with an underage woman. Dahhhhhh Were you on the Jury? Good grief!

[SkreetGil1]

05:15 PM on 07/24/2011

Um...14 years old is a child. He was 38.

You don't think he's going to do the same to this little girl.

Tigers don't change their stripes.

That poor little girl.

[Cayita]

09:18 PM on 07/20/2011

Has it been proven that indeed Mr. Coleman is not the biological dad? There are allegations but until it is proven, he is legally the father of this child.

In custody battles between parents and grandparents, parents usually win unless they are unfit. Is a sex offender unfit? Well, this sex offender was married to the “victim” for almost 14 years and they had 3 children together. Were those other kids in danger too? If so, their mother (the original victim) and their grandmother (who now wants to adopt the little one) didn’t seem to have a problem then. So NOW there is outrage that the grandkids are living with a sex offender.

A 38 year old man and a 14 year old girl is creepy (my new neighbors had exactly the same situation and they have been married for 15 years now). But from you can tell from the story that all the characters are dysfunctional people and that “victim” was probably no virgin.

I do not like the father but I do not like the granny either. I do not think the girl will be in danger with the father. But I do want to make sure he is the father first. If he is, he should have his child. If he is not, then bio dad should step in. If he is another jewel, that poor little girl is probably doomed.

[Cranmer1549]

08:34 AM on 07/21/2011

All three of the parties that want Miranda are worthless you-know-whats. She should probably go into foster care to get away from all of them.

[Marcie Mitchell]

05:47 PM on 07/21/2011

Yeah, because foster care is such a stimulating, safe, positive environment. You don't trade in one problem for an even bigger problem.

[joanwiersma]

03:51 PM on 07/21/2011

He's not the real dad. The biological dad was on televsion here. That judge needs to be vetted. Something is wrong with this picture.