BIRMINGHAM, Alabama -- The mother of a child whose allegations of sexual abuse at a Cahaba Heights day care center led to the director's imprisonment has now filed suit against the director, the now-defunct center and others.

The suit filed by "V.C." on behalf of her daughter, "R.C.," is the second such suit filed against Robert Eugene Frost, who is serving a 20-year sentence after his conviction last year of sexual abuse of a child under age 12.

The other suit was filed in December and amended in February by "L.L." on behalf of her daughter, "K.D." None of the plaintiffs have been identified by name.

The allegations that Frost, 77, sexually touched the girls at the day-care center were part of his prosecution in Jefferson County Circuit Court. A jury was unable to reach a verdict and a mistrial was declared on two counts of child sex abuse, but he was convicted of molesting R.C. The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals upheld the conviction in March.

The latest civil suit, filed Thursday in Jefferson County Circuit Court, said both R.C. and her mother, V.C., have suffered extreme emotional duress, anxiety and physical distress as a result of the molestation. The suit says the plaintiffs have incurred medical bills as a result of the sexual abuse and R.C. will require ongoing counseling.

"That's the reality of it," said V.C.'s lawyer, William Bradford, who filed the lawsuit with Joseph Ingram and Amber Ladner. "Throughout their lives they will need counseling to help them get over it. If there is a way to get that for them then we'd like to do that."

No lawyers are listed in electronic court records for the defendants in the other civil suit, regarding K.D. Both name as defendants Frost, Christian's Day Care and Learning Academy and others associated with the center.

A 31-year-old man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for sex crimes against three children below 12 years of age. The crimes occurred in 2007. The man, Tony Edward Coyle was arrested in November 2009, and in August 2011, he pleaded guilty to the charges.

Coyle was sentenced to 15 years in prison on one count of first degree sexual abuse and 10 years for attempted sexual abuse of a child and enticing a child. According to the Alabama Attorney General's Office, the man was given the entire 15-year sentence because of the nature of the crimes and the victims’ ages. Coyle will neither be eligible for parole nor any reduction of his prison sentence

Sex crimes are some of the most terrifying crimes a person can be accused of. Alabama sex crime laws, especially those that involve children, are some of the strictest in the country.

In Alabama, a person who has been convicted of a class A felony offense involving a child, like first-degree rape or sodomy, could be sentenced to up to 20 years in prison. Class B felony offenses including second-degree sodomy and rape, and sexual abuse of a child below 12, can result in a prison sentence of at least 10 years. Additionally, when a person is convicted of a felony sex crime involving a child, there may be an additional penalty of at least 10 years of supervision after release from prison.

Unfortunately, Alabama criminal defense attorneys often find that when a person has been accused of sex crimes, his punishment begins even before he goes on trial. A person convicted of sex crimes against children may be required to register himself in a sex offender registry, and may have severe restrictions placed on where he can live even after he has been released from prison or paroled.

In an important decision, an Alabama appeals court has ruled that a law that would require sex offenders to provide their future residential address before they get out of prison, does not apply to offenders who are homeless.

The rules require sex offenders to inform law enforcement about their address, so that they can be monitored after they are released from prison. The laws are part of the Alabama Community Notification Act.  All sex offenders who are soon to be released from prison must provide an address where they are expected to live after they complete their prison sentence. If these offenders fail to provide an address, they are charged with a felony. These offenders are then rearrested when they are about to leave prison. Failure to provide an address could lead to between one and 10 years in prison.

However, what happens in the case of those sex offenders who are homeless, and therefore, have no address to provide law enforcement? Often, Alabama criminal defense lawyers see that these offenders have little chance of being released from prison because they have no address to provide. Indigent sex offenders can have almost no chance of getting out of prison after they finish their sentence, just because they cannot provide a residential address.

The Alabama Court of Criminal Appeals unanimously ruled 4-0 in the matter involving the arrest of Thornal Lee Adams. He had been imprisoned for sex offenses, and continued to be imprisoned because his poverty and financial hardship did not allow him to live in a house.  The Atty. Gen.'s office argued that these homeless offenders could provide another address, like a park bench or under a bridge, as if a rock under a bridge or a bench qualifies as a legally valid address.  The court, however, felt that the law amounts to cruel and unusual punishment.  

Alabama sex crimes defense lawyers weren't expecting this one.  A former Alabama assistant district attorney who made much of his career prosecuting sex crimes against minors, is now accused of enticement himself.  It's not the first time that someone on the right side of the law has been found with his hand in the cookie jar, but it’s still surreal nevertheless. 

According to the Alabama Attorney General's Office, former assistant district attorney Stephen Giardini has been indicted on charges of enticement and solicitation of a minor over the computer with the intent to produce child photography.  Giardini allegedly engaged in communication with what he believed was a 15-year-old girl, but was in reality, an FBI Internet Crimes against Children agent.  The Attorney General's Family Protection Unit presented evidence of Giardini’s crime to a jury in Mobile, Alabama, and he has now been indicted.

Giardini is now charged with acting with intent to entice a child under the age of 16 for intercourse, sodomy or sexual purposes, acting with the intent to criminally solicit the production of child photography and acting with the intent to entice a child for sexual purposes by means of computer, telephone, personal digital assistant or other electronic means of communication.  These are felony charges, and the irony of a former prosecutor, who established a career based on targeting sex offenders, being indicted on these charges is bizarre.  If convicted, Giardini could face a sentence of between 1 to 20 years. 

Giardini resigned from his position in April 2009 after a search of his home in Mobile.  It was a sealed warrant, and so, there is no information about what the search entailed.  His lawyer denies that his client was trying to produce child pornography. Giardini is currently out on a $250,000 bond.