Verden woman charged with felony child abuse
Jeanne Grimes, Staff Writer, jgrimes@chickashanews.com
CHICKASHA — A 65-year-old Verden woman charged with child abuse by injury was freed following her initial appearance in Grady County District Court on Thursday.
Carol J. Schmidt was released on a $50,000 bond. Her preliminary hearing conference will be 1:30 p.m. March 7.
If convicted, Schmidt could be sentenced to life behind bars.
According to the charge filed by prosecutors, Schmidt "willfully/maliciously" engaged in causing both physical and mental harm to children in her care. The abuse, which came to the attention of the Grady County Sheriff's Department on Nov. 5, reportedly occurred between January 2007 when the children came to live with Schmidt and November 2011. Schmidt adopted the children in July 2007.
An affidavit on file reports the abuse involved three girls ages 15, 13 and 6 years and two boys ages 7 and 9 years. According to the affidavit, the girls ran away and when they were located by the sheriff's department, told the deputy that they were scared of Schmidt and didn't want to go home.
The deputy reported one girl, who had bruising on her cheek and inside her mouth, reported Schmidt had grabbed her inside the mouth because she was upset that the house was messy. The other girl reported Schmidt had grabbed her stomach.
When the deputy and a Department of Human Services worker went to Schmidt's home later that night, Schmidt admitted locking the boys in their room where they had a five-gallon bucket for a toilet, making the younger boy lick his own vomit, and pinching the older girl, according to the affidavit. All five youngsters were then removed from the home by DHS.
During subsequent forensic interviews, the teenage girls recounted being struck several times by Schmidt whenever she became upset. The 13-year-old also said Schmidt banged her head against a door and then choked her until she couldn't breathe. Schmidt also allegedly knocked the 9-year-old boy down for "messing with the dog" and threatened to "get a child molester to come and play with him" if he did that again, according to the affidavit. Schmidt is also alleged to have grabbed one of the boys by the genitals.
During another incident revealed in the interviews, Schmidt allegedly held a lit cigarette lighter to the 7-year-old's hand because he wouldn't eat. The boy reportedly has difficulty swallowing, according to the affidavit, and Schmidt reportedly slapped the youngster so hard for not swallowing his food that he fell from his chair at the table. She then allegedly dragged him to the bathroom, threw him into the tub and sprayed him with water. Then she reportedly placed him in the toilet and threatened to flush him. She also made the youngster sit all day on the toilet, according to the affidavit.