Police: Ankeny teens were locked in basement for 3-4 weeks

Two adopted children allege Paul and JoAnn Drake only released them for school

12:16 AM, Nov 8, 2012

Written by

Joel Aschbrenner

Two Ankeny teenagers allege they spent about a month as prisoners in their own basement.

The adopted teens’ parents have been arrested on imprisonment and neglect charges.

Paul Alan Drake, 45, and JoAnn Marie Drake, 44, reportedly locked their 13-year-old daughter and 14-year-old son in the basement for three to four weeks. They allegedly fed the teens under the locked door and allowed them out only to attend school, according to reports cited by Ankeny Police Chief Gary Mikulec.

It appears discipline was the reason for locking the children in the basement, Mikulec said in an email.

The Iowa Department of Human Services learned of the alleged abuse in September after one of the teens told a school employee.

DHS officials alerted Ankeny police, and officers on Oct. 5 went to the Drakes’ southwest Ankeny house.

Both parents turned themselves in to Ankeny police, according to the report. They were arrested Wednesday and each charged with two counts of false imprisonment and neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, according to online jail records. They were booked in the Polk County Jail and released hours later.

The Department of Human Services has found a safe place for the children, said agency spokesman Roger Munns.

Mikulec said DHS is handling the investigation. Munns said he could not share more about the case.

The neglect or abandonment charges are the most serious against the Drakes. Convictions are punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Attempts to contact Paul and JoAnn Drake on Wednesday were unsuccessful. When a reporter knocked on the door of their home, someone looked out the window but refused to answer the door.

Neither Drake has a significant criminal record in Iowa — one traffic ticket for Paul Drake.