Oxford boy's uncle charged with neglect, battery
Journal and Courier (Lafayette, IN)
Dateline: Oxford, Indiana
By Joe Gerrety jgerrety@journalandcourier.com
The uncle of Nicolas Zavala, the Oxford 11-year-old who went missing in August 2002 and later was found dead, has been charged as an adult with felony neglect of a dependent and misdemeanor battery.
Judge Rex Kepner of Benton Circuit Court waived Miguel A. Campos, 19, to adult court on Jan. 28. Campos is charged in connection with incidents allegedly perpetrated against Nicolas between May and August 2002. A jury trial has been scheduled tentatively for April 26.
Benton County prosecutor Jud Barce said he charged Campos with the same offenses as a juvenile last September, because Campos was under age 18 when the alleged abuse occurred.
Barce immediately petitioned Kepner to have the case waived to adult court, arguing that the alleged offenses were part of a repetitive pattern of delinquency and that Campos was beyond rehabilitation by the juvenile justice system.
Campos, who is attempting to hire a private attorney, appeared in court last week with his mother, Margaret E. Williams, 59, who also faces felony neglect charges based on the same alleged facts.
Campos asked several times to have the waiver hearing postponed. His most recent request, on Jan. 28, was denied, and Kepner agreed to move the case to adult court.
Kepner found probable cause to support the adult charges and had Campos jailed on a $2,100 cash bond. Campos, who now lists a West Lafayette address, posted that bond and was released Friday. He could not be reached for comment Tuesday.
At least one of the charges against Campos is based on the same set of facts as charges filed in July 2003 against Williams, Nicolas' grandmother, who was Nicolas' temporary guardian at the time he went missing. Williams, Campos and Nicolas lived together in a home in Oxford in the summer of 2002.
Nicolas went missing on Aug. 13, 2002. His skeletal remains were discovered April 18 in Iroquois County, Ill. An Illinois court had granted Williams temporary custody of Nicolas, who had spent four years as a ward of that state.
No charges have been filed in connection with Nicolas' death, and investigators have not disclosed the cause of his death. But an Indiana State Police investigation appears to be focused on Williams and Campos.
Williams is scheduled for a one-day jury trial Feb. 20 in Benton Circuit Court on five felony counts of neglect of a dependent for incidents alleged to have occurred between May and August 2002.
The charges allege that between May and August 2002, four witnesses saw Nicolas subjected to painful forms of punishment by Williams, who allegedly was assisted by Campos. The alleged punishment included requiring Nicolas to:
*Kneel on a broomstick for extended periods while holding heavy vegetable cans or jars in his hands.
*Kneel on a broomstick for extended periods while holding jugs of water with his hands extended from his body.
*Kneel on a broomstick for extended periods while holding jugs of sand with his hands extended from his body.
*Lean his forehead against a wall for several hours with his body at an incline and his feet two to three feet from the wall. A rag or towel would be used to cushion Nicolas' forehead, according to court documents. The discipline was referred to by Williams as "Muncie exercises."
If "the towel would fall to the floor, Margaret Williams would make Nicolas begin the exercises again," according to the affidavit.
Campos is accused of participating in those forms of discipline, referred to in the neglect charge as "torture." Campos also is accused of grabbing Nicolas by the neck and striking him in the face.