Former officer charged in case

Standard-Examiner (Ogden, UT)

Author: MARK GRAY

Standard-Examiner staff

mgray@standard.net

ROY -- A former Salt Lake County correctional officer and his wife have been charged with felony child abuse after police said the couple severely beat their 8-year-old son and forced him to live on a small stairway landing for four months with no heat and little clothing.

Police called the abuse "extremely horrific" and believe the child would have died had the abuse continued.

For punishment, the child was locked in an outdoor shed in the winter, wearing only his underwear.

"They used a systematic method of actions to diminish the child's ability, through feeding, isolation and emotional aspects," Roy Police Chief Greg Whinham said. "If we were to sit down and think of how to be mean to a child with the result being a significant chance the child would die, you'd think of half of the stuff these people thought and did."

Whinham said Scott Nelson, 32, and Catherine Kanani Nelson, 28, also have a 3-year-old daughter, who was treated "very well." The two children, who are natural siblings, were adopted together from Samoa in March 2003.

Whinham gave no motive for the abuse, but when asked if the Nelsons may have wanted only one child, he said, "Your observations are the same as ours."

Police were alerted to the problem last November after school officials noticed the boy practicing "different behavioral patterns," Whinham said, adding the second-grader was not allowed school lunch, but rather rotten food his parents packed for him. The school he attended was not released.

When police arrived at the Roy home, in the 3800 block of 2000 West, they saw the child's living conditions consisted of a 4-foot-by-4-foot stairway landing in an unheated, unfinished basement. Usually, he wore only underwear. There was no bedding or bathroom in the basement.

"We don't know if he was allowed to use the bathroom," Whinham said.

Whinham said the Nelsons "ran the gamut" and were "very prolific" in their physical abuse of the child.

The child suffered soft-tissue damage, heavy bruising and frostbite from being locked in the shed. Whinham would not say if the Nelsons used weapons to inflict the abuse.

"Our investigation would lead you to believe the end result would have been loss of life of this child if the pattern continued," Whinham said. "This department is very happy the most these people could be charged with was second-degree felony child abuse, because if they could have been charged with a more serious felony, it would have meant the child was dead."

The two children have been removed from the home and are in state custody.

Whinham said the boy is doing well. Because the children are no longer in danger, the Nelsons were not arrested but received a summons to appear in court.

A preliminary hearing is set for April 28.

After the charges were filed Feb. 17, Scott Nelson resigned from his job as a correctional officer, Salt Lake County Sheriff's Sgt. Rosie Rivera said.

According to court documents, the Nelsons have hired Weber County attorney Gary Barr. Barr could not be reached for comment Wednesday.