Respected Osceola couple charged with neglect and endangerment

Brynn Carman

OSCEOLA – Court documents state a well-know couple is being charged with child neglect and endangerment after leaving adoptive kids in horrible conditions. 

Kenneth and Kelly Fry were arrested on Sunday, but investigators first visited the house back in January.

“It”s kind of a shock to me that this happened and I would have to see evidence before I believe it because frankly it’s hard for anybody in Osceola to believe I think,” said Steve Neibur, a neighbor and the former Osceola Police Chief.

Steve Neibur lives across the street from Kenny and Kelly Fry.  He is the retired police chief and says it’s always been a quiet community.

He says he never expected his neighbors to be facing criminal charges.

“They are both well respected in the city.” 

Court documents the couple has seven children. Five biological and two who were adopted from Ghana a few years ago.

According to the affidavit, the parents kept the adoptive kids in a room that was subdivided by wood and lined in plastic. It goes on to say there were no furnishings or personal items in the rooms, except a plastic bucket which was used as a toilet.

Steve and other neighbors on the street completely unaware of the alleged abuse.

“I don’t know the children at all, just the parents.”

Steve says the Fry’s are well known in the community. Both star athletes in their day.

“Her reputation and just seeing her around town and seeing her in action in her high school days and the few years after that she was just so professional and so outgoing with people and just really nice.”

“Kenny was quite the good football player here too and well respected.”

That’s what makes the allegations so tough for him and others town to grasp.

The documents state that while the adoptive children weren’t locked in their room, alarms would go off if they tried to leave. And they would be disciplined in the form of squats and pushups.

The two kids who are 8 and 9 told authorities they were fed oatmeal for breakfast, lunch and dinner. A doctor says at least one of the children was malnourished.

“I respect them both very much and I am hoping there is no truth to it.”

Both the kids were removed from the home in January.

Kenneth and Kelly Fry have been charged with child endangerment, an aggravated misdemeanor; child endangerment causing bodily injury, a class D felony; and neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, a class C felony.

The couple is due in court on July 3rd.