A convicted sex offender spent six years in jail for allegedly raping his then 6-year-old step daughter. Now, in a shocking courtroom decision, he won sole custody of his 6-year-old biological daughter.
"I don’t understand how a sex offender can just walk in the courtroom and just take her after I've had her for six years," said Lisa Knight, the man's ex-wife.
Nicholas Elizondo, 55, filed for custody after Knight stopped granting him visits with their child, Sarah.
After one visit, Knight alleges, Sarah came home saying that her half brother, 19, touched her private parts.
"While she was in the bathtub she said 'Something really bad happened,'" Knight's cousin Jodi Coomer told Oklahoma City station KFOR-TV.
Knight's attorney, Valerie Williford of Oklahoma City, says that Oklahoma County Judge Howard Haralson possibly retaliated against Knight because Haralson thinks Knight fabricated the story. But Williford stands by Knight's claims.
They also think that Haralson questioned her parenting because she could not remember all of Sarah's doctors on the spot.
The girl was born with a cleft lip and palette so she has multiple specialists, the family said.
“Because Mom can’t remember the doctor’s names then she’s a bad Mom? I don’t think so,” said Coomer.
The couple originally lived together in Bakersfield, Calif. until Knight became pregnant with their only child. Knight moved to Norman, Okla. and they divorced in 2008, reported Bakersfield Now.
Elizondo says he completed parole and probation in 2001 and that he only pleaded no contest to one of 11 charges to have the other 10 dismissed back in 1995.
He believes police incited the child to say incriminating things to build a case against him.
Knight and her family are still fighting to keep Sarah.
“I just know that his victim was 6 years old at the time and Sarah is 6 years old right now,” said Knight.
Knight and her family do not think Sarah will have a normal childhood under his roof.
"He can’t take her to Chuck E. Cheese. He can’t take her to a park," said Coomer. "He can’t go to her school. He’s not allowed in school."