Creston couple accused of abuse

By Jim Osborn

COLUMBUS — A Creston couple has been accused of child abuse after two children living in the family home were removed by state officials because of excessive discipline.

Janelle Gertsch, 42, and her live-in boyfriend, Larry Einspahr Jr., 43, are scheduled for a felony first appearance Wednesday in Platte County Court.

The couple, not yet formally charged by the Platte County Attorney’s Office, was arrested a week ago in connection with the removal of a boy, 12, and two girls, ages 13 and 9, from their home.

Gertsch is the custodial mother of the three adopted children. She is divorced from the adoptive father.

Court documents in the case describe an investigation that got under way after school officials were made aware in late-November of bruising and swelling injuries on the boy’s and 9-year-old girl’s lower backs.

The boy and girl described being beaten excessively with a doubled-over belt or open hands during the incidents of punishment to law enforcement officials.

The boy, said Platte County Sheriff’s Investigator Joseph Gragert in his arrest statement, described an incident in which he was struck “repeatedly” on the face by his mother in an open-handed manner after not performing a household chore.

The boy said the injuries to his face were so severe that his mother wouldn’t allow him to go to church and kept him home from school for the entire next week, which was confirmed by school attendance records.

“He was also sequestered to his basement room for several days, kept away from his sisters so they wouldn’t see how bad his injuries were and tell someone,” Gragert said