TALLAHASSEE -- An investigation into missing surveillance tapes at a Department of Juvenile Justice detention center has some critics suggesting that there is a pattern of cover-ups at the agency.

The tapes were discovered missing as police began investigating the alleged rape of a then15-year-old boy with a 32 IQ. Critics point out, though, that it is far from the first time that critical evidence was unavailable during similar investigations.

Surveillance tapes also were missing, or of poor quality, after the deaths of three boys in Juvenile Justice custody: Omar Paisley, Danny Matthews and Shawn Smith.

Cathy Corry, a Clearwater-based juvenile justice watchdog, said she's had dozens of complaints from parents that officials could not confirm abuse allegations against their children because surveillance equipment didn't work.

"I got pretty sick of hearing that the videotape was lost, or the videotape didn't exist, or (the) area in question wasn't covered by the videotape," Corry told The Miami Herald.

In the latest case, the department's inspector general is investigating a break-in of the cabinet where tapes are stored. Detention center superintendent Linda Edwards-Ellis was aware of the break-in, but didn't report it or start an investigation, according to the IG report. She was fired this week.

In Miami, the department has installed a new, $400,000 digital surveillance system that does not rely on tapes, he said. He noted that tapes have helped prosecutors in other cases.

Paisley, 17, died of a ruptured appendix in June 2003 at the Miami-Dade Juvenile Detention Center. He had pleaded for medical attention for three days. The grand jury investigating the death said it "longed for" a recording of the days leading to the death, but most of the 10-yearold video cameras in the facility didn't work.

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