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Couple once charged with neglect looks to rebuild their lives

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Union Daily Times, The (SC)

Connie Oliver allowed to enter pre-trial intervention; charges will be dropped against husband

Author: ANNA BROWN; Staff Writer

A woman charged with neglecting her two adopted children will be allowed to enter a court program that could clear her record. Authorities also say charges will be dropped against her husband.

Doug Brannon, a Spartanburg lawyer representing Connie and John Oliver, said the two are starting to rebuild their lives.

"And we hope these two people can get their jobs back," he said.

Mrs. Oliver will enter Pre-Trial Intervention through the 16th Circuit Solicitor's Office, Brannon said. Solicitor Kevin Brackett said charges against John Oliver have not been dropped from the court docket, but will be.

Brackett said a Family Court judge's decision in December to return the children to the Olivers hampered the ability to prosecute the criminal case.

"All I can do is assess the case on its merits and when the Family Court case was decided, that dramatically impacted our criminal case," he said. "We got the best results we could with what we had. I know there are still concerns in the community and I appreciate that. I know DSS is still involved and I assume they are looking out for the best interest of the children."

Brackett said that in making the decision to allow Mrs. Oliver to enter PTI and in dropping the charge against John Oliver, he consulted with the officers involved in the case and former Assistant Solicitor Gary Frost, who had worked on the case before he resigned to devote more time to his private practice.

A person who successfully completes PTI can ask that a judge clear his or her record.

The Olivers were living on 161 West Lane in Jonesville when they were arrested on Sept. 26, 2006. She was charged with unlawful neglect by a legal custodian, He initially was charged with cruelty to children, but his charge later was upgraded to neglect.

Deputies were dispatched to the playground at Bogansville United Methodist Church to check out a report that the Olivers' adopted children, a 12-year-old girl and a 10-yearold boy originally from Estonia, had been left unattended for several hours.

A witness said the children were left at the playground every Saturday.

The witness said the children were always hungry and she would give them something to eat as often as she could. She said the pastor at Bogansville Church also had fed the children.

The girl told a deputy her mother locked her and her brother out of the house, left to go shopping in Spartanburg and she did not want them to go with her. The children said they had had nothing to eat all day, had no way to get anything to eat and no way to call their mother.

Both children said they had been locked in their rooms and were not allowed to eat, that their mother was abusive and they had no way of contacting family members.

The children were placed in emergency protective custody.

On the way to the sheriff 's patrol office, the officer stopped at McDonald's and bought the children something to eat.

A report said a DSS case worker said the agency had received several reports on the children but was never able to do anything with the case.

In the investigation, officers contacted a neighbor of the children who said she also had fed them and was aware of their circumstances.

The report said the girl weighs 40 pounds and her brother weighs 45 pounds. The children were adopted from Estonia around eight years ago.

Mrs. Oliver's arrest warrant said that she abandoned the children that Saturday, locked them out of the house, and she had done this several times in the past. The warrant said the children were left for seven hours without food or drink, without legal guardianship and with no emergency contact information.

The warrant also said she had on many occasions locked the children in their rooms and had used abusive and damaging language towards them, causing them to fear for their safety.

Mrs. Oliver taught art in Union County Schools for several years and was teaching at Laurens District 56 Schools at the time of her arrest.

John Oliver worked in television video production. His arrest warrant said on several occasions he had locked the children in their rooms, placing them at unreasonable safety and harm and he had allowed his wife to use abusive and damaging language towards them causing mental harm to their well-being. The warrant also said he had consistent knowledge of physical abuse and the children being locked outside the home.

The children told officers their mother put food out of their reach. The little girl said she knew the day officers found her and her brother on the playground that their mother would leave them so she sneaked a piece of salami out of the refrigerator before they were sent outside.

Officers said two children had very little clothing and their bedrooms were barren. The locks had been reversed so that the doors could be locked from the outside.

The Olivers have an older biological child who has been provided adequate food and clothing.

During a Family Court hearing in December, Brannon said doctors said the children were small because they suffered from fetal alcohol syndrome and a medication they were taking for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder had suppressed their appetites.

A DSS worker testified that the children gained weight while in state custody.

Brannon said he thought officers overreacted the day the children were found on the playground.

"They didn't properly investigate something and these people were labeled as the most perverse child abusers in South Carolina," he said. "They did everything possible to protect these two adopted children. The only reason Connie Oliver is going to PTI is because she didn't check a door to make sure it was unlocked."

He said another family member and not Mrs. Oliver locked the door of the house that day before they left for Spartanburg.

The children are "doing wonderfully" Brannon said.

"The little girl had surgery on one ear and is hearing with such significant improvement that she no longer has to have a hearing aid in that ear," he said.

2007 Jul 12