Tethered boys's mom is released

Tethered boys's mom is released

Criminal charges iffy under new state laws

JACK KRESNAK
FREE PRESS STAFF WRITER
Wednesday, 11/3/1999

Is tying a half-naked disabled child to a plastic bucket with a dog collar and leash, then locking him in a basement room, considered criminal child abuse in the state of Michigan?

Perhaps not.

Detroit police and Wayne County prosecutors Tuesday reluctantly released from custody a 62-year-old Detroit woman who allegedly had done just that to her 9-year-old son.

Before any criminal charge can be filed, a complete physical and psychological examination of the boy must be completed, a process that could take several weeks.

The case may have fit former state laws that were eliminated by the Michigan Legislature in 1988. The child cruelty statute made treating a child cruelly a 4-year felony without specifying physical or mental injuries. There also was child torture, a 10-year felony, that involved long-term sadistic abuse. Those laws were replaced by a new law that established four degrees of criminal child abuse -- all requiring evidence of physical or psychological damage.

Although the child was allegedly mistreated, officials said Tuesday there were no obvious signs of physical injury. Psychological abuse will be difficult to assess because the boy, who has cerebral palsy, is virtually nonverbal, officials said.

The boy and his 10-year-old brother -- both adopted years ago by the woman, a former licensed foster parent -- are in foster homes under supervision of the Wayne County Family Independence Agency. A preliminary hearing in the juvenile division of Wayne County Family Court is scheduled for today on a petition by the FIA to make the boys temporary wards of the court.

The older child apparently was not harmed, officials said.

The woman, a foster parent licensed through the FIA between August 1989 until April of this year, could not be reached for comment Tuesday.

Neighbors and the boys' former teacher, however, praised her as friendly and fastidious.

Bob Cafagna, who has known the woman for 20 years, said she cared for needy neighbors.

"She's taken in some kids that no one would take, that no one wanted," he said.

The boys' former teacher, Earnestine Carter, called the woman "an excellent parent."

Neither Cafagna nor Carter said they knew whether the woman tied her 9-year-old son to a bucket, as alleged. Both said they would be surprised if the woman abused the boy.

But Ernest Elias, who called the woman "an ideal neighbor," said he suspected problems in the woman's home after twice observing the older boy beating up the younger one two years ago.

Still, he said, he was surprised to learn the woman was arrested.

Even if the woman did strap her youngest son to the plastic bucket as alleged, Wayne County deputy chief prosecutor Nancy Diehl said, "The statute requires, minimally, physical harm or serious mental harm and we need to be able to prove that."

Diehl, who heads the prosecutor's child and family abuse bureau, quoted the law as saying: "Serious mental harm means an injury to a child's mental condition or welfare that is not necessarily permanent but results in visibly demonstrable manifestations of a substantial disorder of thought or mood which significantly impairs judgment, behavior, capacity to recognize reality or ability to cope with the ordinary demands of life."

Diehl said her office was trying to determine if such damage occurred and if the evidence fits the current Michigan child abuse law.

The Prosecuting Attorneys Association of Michigan has made suggestions to strengthen the child abuse statute, but no action has been taken by the state legislature.

State Sen. William Van Regenmorter, R-Hudsonville, said he recently had been reviewing sentencing guidelines for people convicted of first-degree child abuse and found them too lenient. He said he was unaware of any other problem with the statute.

"This sounds like a case in which charges should be filed and if the statute isn't providing enough clarity to make that a solid charge, then the statute ought to be changed," he said Tuesday. "And we will -- as I hang up -- begin a process that, if it's successful, will produce change."

According to the Michigan Department of Consumer and Industry Services, which licenses foster homes, there were no reports of problems in the woman's home over the 10-year period. The woman's licensing file "shows a very uneventful history," said Robert Cable, acting director of the CIS' division of child welfare licensing.

But Lt. Shelley Foy of the Detroit Police Department's child abuse unit said her unit had investigated a previous complaint of child abuse against the same woman after a baby girl, cared for in her home on Bewick Street from February to April, appeared to be injured.

The baby's paternal great-grandmother, Delores Maxwell, told the Free Press Monday that she took the baby to St. John Hospital because she was lethargic. Doctors at the hospital found retinal and cranial bleeding they said was consistent with abuse.

Foy said detectives sent a report on the case to the Prosecutor's Office. Diehl said that case was denied a warrant for insufficient evidence. Officials could not determine if the child's injuries were due to abuse or a previous medical condition.

But, Diehl said, that case was being reviewed again.

JACK KRESNAK can be reached at 313-223-4544. M.L. Elrick contributed to this report.

This article was kindly provided by Jack Kresnak President & CEO of Michigan's Children