Schumms, Topeka child abuse defendants, list $4,650 monthly subsidy for kids

Mother says couple has 15 children, not 16

By Steve Fry

steve.fry@cjonline.com

Topeka councilman Jonathan Schumm and his wife, Allison, receive a monthly government subsidy of $4,650 for 15 children who lived in the family’s southeast Topeka home, according to a court document examined Tuesday.

The couple was arrested and charged Nov. 19 with one count each of aggravated battery and, as an alternative, abuse of a child, as well as four counts of endangering a child.

Those crimes are alleged to have occurred between Oct. 7 and Oct. 11 and on Oct. 31.

Jonathan Schumm, 34, was elected in April to the city council, on which he represents a southeast Topeka district.

The $4,650 figure was listed in a document filed by Allison Schumm, who is charged with aiding her husband, in order to receive the services of a court-appointed attorney. A Shawnee County District judge granted her request.

Topeka lawyer Tom Lemon has been hired to defend Jonathan Schumm in the criminal case and subsequent ouster action filed by the Shawnee County District Attorney’s office.

Allison Schumm, 32, listed the monthly income of her husband, who sells life insurance, as $1,100 and her own work in “direct sales” as $500 a month. The financial affidavit also states the family has an 11-year-old car and a large 14-year-old van.

In the section listing the couple’s children, the number first was “16,” but the numeral “5” was written over the “6.” In the past, the Schumms have said they have 16 children, of whom four are biological, two are in foster care, and 10 are adopted. Their ages range from about 1 year old to about 20 years old.

The affidavit said the couple owns an $80,000 house but doesn’t pay rent or make a house payment. Shawnee County appraisal records list the Schumms as the home’s owners.

During his first appearance hearing in the criminal case, Jonathan Schumm stated the children had been removed from the family home.

In other developments, Lemon filed an objection to disclosing information in an affidavit in the criminal case to the public.

The Topeka Capital-Journal filed a request last week seeking the affidavit linked to criminal charges filed against the Schumms.

In a one-paragraph filing, Lemon said he objected “to the production of any portion of the affidavit herein to any media source.”

A Kansas law allows a district court judge to make public a criminal affidavit, which contains details of the alleged crime or crimes.

Citing violence to a 12-year-old son of Jonathan Schumm, District Attorney Chad Taylor and senior assistant district attorney Todd Hiatt filed a civil action Nov. 24 seeking to first suspend Schumm as a city councilman, then oust him from office. According to a court record, choking of the boy allegedly followed a beating in which Jonathan Schumm struck his son with a belt that lacerated his eye and hand.

A hearing in the ouster case is scheduled for Dec. 11 before District Judge Franklin Theis.

In seeking Schumm’s ouster, the district attorney’s office alleges Schumm “willfully engaged in misconduct” while a councilman, court records said.

Between Oct. 7 and Oct. 11, the court record charges, Jonathan Schumm took the boy into a 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.”

Prosecutors allege Schumm then 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),” the record said.

The record alleges that 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.” Violating statutes involving moral turpitude is one of four grounds on which a public official can be ousted from office.

The Schumms were released from jail in lieu of bond Nov. 20.

Steve Fry can be reached at (785) 295-1206 or steve.fry@cjonline.com.
Follow Steve on Twitter @@TCJCourtsNCrime.