BY RACHEL SHOWALTER

The Blaine woman facing almost a dozen felony charges for allegedly torturing four children is scheduled to appear for her arraignment hearing Friday in Whatcom County Superior Court. 

Tana Perkins Reneau, 51, was formally charged earlier this month with four counts of second-degree child assault, three counts of first-degree incest, one count of first-degree child rape, one count of second-degree child rape, one count of third-degree child rape, and one count of second-degree assault, all related to the alleged years-long physical and sexual abuse of four children, according to court records.

Reneau will be asked to enter a plea regarding the charges at the arraignment hearing. She was booked into the Whatcom County Jail after being arrested June 2. Her bail was originally set at $500,000. She has since bonded out of custody, jail records show. 

The alleged abuse occurred from January 2020 through May 2023, court records show. Reneau’s arrest came after Whatcom County detectives were assigned to investigate through state Child Protective Services.

A pair of Rohnert Park foster parents will learn this week whether they will face trial for allegedly abusing and raping three children they adopted. Both Jose and Gina Centeno have been charged with three counts of kidnapping for ransom and three counts of torture. Jose Centeno is also charged with nine more counts related to rape and sexual abuse. Their defense attorneys will make their case tomorrow on why the Centenos shouldn’t stand trial. Police tells the Press Democrat that the couple made their foster children run barefoot in a backyard until their feet bled, locked them in their rooms at night and beat them if they triggered a motion sensor. Jose is also accused of sexually abusing one of the girls several times. The case came to light when two of the children were abandoned in Mexico. There was a third child but she disappeared years earlier and has not been seen or heard from since.

Former foster parents Jose and Gina Centeno are scheduled to face a jury as early as September. Severe abuse, detailed in testimony, included children being chained to their bunk beds and forced to stay in a pet cage for weeks.

COLIN ATAGI

THE PRESS DEMOCRAT

It was a low-slung two-story house on a quiet street in Rohnert Park. A large oak tree graced the front yard, and just beyond the back fence was an elementary school ball field where students played.

Neighbors say they rarely saw the young children who lived in the home and didn’t know much about them.

Denver Pratt / The Bellingham Herald (TNS)

The Blaine woman accused of torturing four children over several years has been officially charged with nearly a dozen felonies and could face life in prison if convicted.

Tana Perkins Reneau, 51, was formally charged Tuesday in Whatcom County Superior Court with four counts of second-degree child assault (domestic violence); three counts of first-degree incest (domestic violence); one count of first-degree child rape (domestic violence); one count of second-degree child rape (domestic violence); one count of third-degree child rape (domestic violence), and one count of second-degree assault (domestic violence), all related to the years-long physical and sexual abuse of four children, according to court records.

Each of the 11 felony charges includes at least three aggravating factors that would allow prosecutors to seek an exceptional prison sentence for Reneau above the standard range for her crimes.

For each of the felony charges Reneau is facing, prosecutors allege that Reneau's conduct during the crimes manifested deliberate cruelty to the victims, that the crimes involved domestic violence and that the crimes were part of "an ongoing pattern of psychological, physical, or sexual abuse of a victim or multiple victims manifested by multiple incidents over a prolonged period of time," the court documents state.

BY DENVER PRATT

The Blaine woman accused of torturing four children over several years has been officially charged with nearly a dozen felonies and could face life in prison if convicted. 

Tana Perkins Reneau, 51, was formally charged Tuesday in Whatcom County Superior Court with four counts of second-degree child assault (domestic violence); three counts of first-degree incest (domestic violence); one count of first-degree child rape (domestic violence); one count of second-degree child rape (domestic violence); one count of third-degree child rape (domestic violence), and one count of second-degree assault (domestic violence), all related to the years-long physical and sexual abuse of four children, according to court records. 

Each of the 11 felony charges includes at least three aggravating factors that would allow prosecutors to seek an exceptional prison sentence for Reneau above the standard range for her crimes. 

For each of the felony charges Reneau is facing, prosecutors allege that Reneau’s conduct during the crimes manifested deliberate cruelty to the victims, that the crimes involved domestic violence and that the crimes were part of “an ongoing pattern of psychological, physical, or sexual abuse of a victim or multiple victims manifested by multiple incidents over a prolonged period of time,” the court documents state. 

BY RACHEL SHOWALTER

A Blaine mother of six who is a former teacher and currently a candidate for the local School Board was arrested Friday, June 2, and charged with three counts of child rape, four counts of child sexual assault and drug possession. 

Tana Perkins Reneau, 51, was arrested by Whatcom County sheriff’s deputies after detectives for the department investigated a Child Protective Services report regarding the abuse of juveniles, according to Deb Slater, a spokeswoman for the Whatcom County Sheriff’s Office.

The juveniles involved in the Child Protective Services complaint were known to Reneau, said Slater. The Sheriff’s Office did not immediately share how the juveniles and Reneau are connected. 

Upon her arrest, Reneau was found to have in her possession a vial of prescription pills for a prescription that was not hers, giving police probable cause to arrest her for possession of a controlled substance, Slater told The Bellingham Herald.

BY RACHEL SHOWALTER

Probable cause documents released by Whatcom County Superior Court detail the alleged child abuse by a Blaine mother of six, who is a former teacher and current candidate for the Blaine School Board. 

Tana Perkins Reneau, 51, was arrested by Whatcom County sheriff’s deputies Friday, June 2, on charges of child rape and child assault. 

The prosecutor’s office intends to formally charge her with first-degree child rape, second-degree child rape, third-degree child rape and four counts of second-degree child assault, according to court documents. She also faces one count of drug possession involving prescription drugs that did not belong to her. 

The arrest came after Whatcom County detectives were assigned the investigation through the state Child Protective Services. Three female children ranging in age from 7 to 14 and one male child over the age of 10 known to Reneau came forward with allegations that she had been physically and sexually abusing them as punishment, documents state.

ELURA NANOS

The state of Arizona argued Friday that it should have qualified immunity from a federal lawsuit seeking to hold it liable for placing children in a foster home that forced them into a sex abuse ring.

Trever Frodsham sued multiple state agencies and officials for placing his siblings and him in foster care with former civilian military leader David Frodsham, a prolific sex abuser who is now serving a 17-year prison sentence for leading a child sex abuse ring. In addition to exploiting the adopted children, authorities said the conspiracy put national security at risk by making David Frodsham vulnerable to blackmail. The Associated Press found in an investigation that Arizona and the U.S. Army “ignored red flags.”

Arizona received nearly 20 complaints of misconduct against David and his wife Barbara Frodsham, yet it still allowed the married couple to serve as foster parents to Trever and his siblings. Arizona has defended its conduct by shifting blame to its contracted agencies: Catholic Community Services and Arizona Partnership for Children, which investigated the relevant complaints but deemed them unfounded at the time that Trever was in the Frodshams’ care.

Trever, now 20, alleges that David sexually abused him over a period of 12 years, beginning when Trever was two years old and only ending when David was arrested in 2016. Trever sued the state of Arizona, both of his former foster parents, and the agencies that placed the children in the foster home for negligence, emotional distress, assault, and battery.

The four Croatian couples who were acquitted of child trafficking charges in Zambia on Thursday have returned home with their adopted children. 

The couples and their children landed in Ljubljana Saturday afternoon and headed home to Croatia. The couples were reunited on Friday with their children, who had been in the custody of Zambian authorities since the couples were arrested in December.

"We are thrilled and still can't believe we are here. The journey was long and we're tired. But, we're still in shock and super happy everything worked out!" said Noah Kraljević, one of the adoptive parents.

Melita Čušek, who is the Head of Child Protection and Family Sector at the Ministry of Labor, Pensions, Family and Social Policy, said the couples and their children would be offered counseling and assistance.

"This is a happy moment but life must go on. They have been through an ordeal. Our experts can offer them psychological counseling and support, especially to the children,” Čušek told reporters.

Brandon Lee Hoffman

November 9, 1972 — June 2, 2023

Hutchinson

Brandon L. Hoffman, 50, passed away June 2, 2023, at Ascension Via Christi St. Francis, Wichita.   He was born November 9, 1972, in Greensburg, the son of Roger and Sandy Fitzwater Hoffman.  He was a graduate of Coldwater High School and received his Bachelor of Arts in Business from Kansas State University.  He was a self-employed handyman and was a member of Crossroads Christian Church. 
On December 21, 1996, he married Melissa “Missy” Clothier in Hutchinson, KS.  She survives.

Other survivors include his mother, Coldwater; 16 children; 8 grandchildren; brothers, Kyle (Kristi) Hoffman and Duane (Beth) Huck, and 3 half siblings, all of Coldwater; mother-in-law, Deborah Clothier, Hutchinson; two sisters in law, Dawnita (Chad) Morgan, Overton, TX and Amanda Wright, Hutchinson; many nieces and nephews; and many more close family members.