Court records: Topeka Councilman Jonathan Schumm beat, choked his child; D.A. asking court to remove him from office
Ouster action details beating, strangling abuse to boy
By Steve Fry
steve.fry@cjonline.com
Topeka City Councilman Jonathan Robert Schumm is accused of choking a 12-year-old son and threatening to “kill him” the next time, Shawnee County District Court records said Wednesday.
The choking followed a beating in which Schumm allegedly struck his son with a belt that lacerated his eye and hand, the court record said.
Citing the violence, Shawnee County District Attorney Chad Taylor and senior assistant district attorney Todd Hiatt filed a civil action on Tuesday seeking to first suspend Schumm as a city councilman, then oust him from office.
Schumm, who was elected as a city councilman in April and who represents a southeast Topeka district, was issued a summons in the civil action Tuesday.
On Wednesday, Taylor declined to comment on the Schumm suspension and ouster case.
Topeka attorney Tom Lemon said he was representing Schumm in the ouster and criminal cases.
“I am not able to comment,” said Lemon, who entered his appearance as Schumm’s attorney Tuesday.
The civil action was filed shortly after 1:20 p.m. Tuesday, and a hearing is scheduled for Dec. 11 before Shawnee County District Judge Franklin Theis.
At that hearing, Schumm can make any defense and have a full hearing on the charges in the application for suspension and the petition to oust him, court records said.
On Nov. 19, Schumm, 34, and his wife, Allison Nicole Schumm, 32, were charged with one count each of aggravated battery and, as an alternative, abuse of a child (torture or cruelly beating a child younger than 18), which is alleged to have occurred between Oct. 7 and Oct. 11, and four counts of endangering a child, which is alleged to have occurred Oct. 31.
In this case, aggravated battery is defined as knowingly using a weapon to cause great bodily harm, disfigurement or death.
Allison Schumm is charged in the criminal case with aiding Jonathan Schumm.
Jonathan and Allison Schumm, who have 16 children ranging from about 1 year old to about 20 years old — of whom four are biological, two are in foster care and 10 are adopted — were arrested and charged on Nov. 19.
The Schumms were booked into the Shawnee County Jail and posted bond Nov. 20.
In seeking Schumm’s ouster, the district attorney’s office alleges Schumm “willfully engaged in misconduct” while he was a Topeka councilman, court records said.
Between Oct. 7 and Oct. 11, Jonathan Schumm took the boy into the defendant’s bedroom, forced the child onto a bed face down, then retrieved a leather and metal belt to repeatedly strike the child, “causing lacerations to (the boy's) eye and hand,” a court record said.
After that, prosecutors allege, Jonathan Schumm rolled the child from his stomach onto his back and began choking him with both hands.
“While he was being strangled, (the boy) heard the defendant say that the next time he strangled (him) he would kill (him,)” court records said.
By “violating” Kansas statutes outlawing aggravated battery and abuse of a child, Jonathan Schumm “violated penal statutes involving moral turpitude and/or willfully engaged in misconduct while in office,” court records said.
Violating statutes involving moral turpitude is one of four grounds for ousting a public official from office.
The other grounds for ouster are willfully engaging in misconduct by a public official, willfully neglecting to perform a duty required by law and mental impairment that blocks the official from handling the office, the state statute said.
An ouster can be sought by a district attorney, county attorney or the attorney general’s office, according to Kansas law.
On Nov. 4, the Kansas Department for Children and Families requested help from Topeka police with “an investigation being conducted by their office in regards to allegations of physical abuse involving children,” the city statement said.
Then, the district attorney’s office was notified of the investigation by Topeka police and social workers from DCF.
On Nov. 20, Jonathan Schumm was released from jail in lieu of a $35,000 cash or surety bond, and Allison Schumm was released in lieu of a $20,000 cash or surety bond, a jail official said.
Steve Fry can be reached at (785) 295-1206 or steve.fry@cjonline.com.
Follow Steve on Twitter @@TCJCourtsNCrime.