How Could You? Hall of Shame -David and Jan Carpenter UPDATED
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Oconto County, Wisconsin, international adoptive parents “David and Jan Carpenter have been charged with neglect of a little girl they adopted from Guatemala in November 2008. Just shy of 3 years old at the time, she was small, only 23 pounds. Eleven months later, in October 2009, she weighed even less, only 21 pounds – about what a 1-year-old typically weighs. By then, she was almost 4.
A doctor at Children’s Hospital of Wisconsin, according to the criminal complaint filed in March 2010 against David Carpenter, told the Oconto County Child Protective Services that the girl looked “like a concentration camp survivor.” The child, the doctor indicated in a report, had “no subcutaneous tissue to speak of.” She suffered from severe malnutrition, according to the criminal complaint, as well as an unexplained subdural hematoma.
The Oconto County Department of Health and Human Services removed the girl from the care of the Carpenters due to her “severely emaciated condition, her injuries and the lack of medical care or any other support services,” according to the complaint.”
http://www.jsonline.com/news/opinion/119507609.html
[Milwaukee Wisconsin Journal Sentinel 4/8/11 by Mike Nichols]
Update: “An Oconto County judge handed down guilty verdicts for a husband and wife in an extreme child neglect case.
The ruling in the case came after David and Jan Carpenter accepted a plea agreement Friday.”
Eleven months after bringing the girl to the US, “the Oconto County Department of Health and Human Services was investigating the suspected abuse and neglect of the girl.
According to a criminal complaint filed against David Carpenter in March of 2010, the child was taken to the hospital.
A doctor there told Child Protective Services she looked “like a concentration camp survivor.”
“Court records indicate a second child was also removed from the home although no charges have been filed against the Carpenters involving that child.
Neither the attorneys in the case nor the Department of Health and Human Services would say how either child is doing or who is now caring for them.
The Carpenters entered no contest pleas in court. The judge found both guilty of child neglect resulting in bodily harm.”
Sentencing will be at the end of June 2011.
Plea deal in Oconto County child abuse case
[Fox 11 4/29/11 by Laura Smith]
Update 2: “A husband and wife have learned their punishment in an extreme neglect case.
In Oconto County court Wednesday, David and Jan Carpenter received five years probation. They will also have to spend 14 days in jail, the same number of days the girl they adopted from Guatemala spent in the hospital.
During the sentencing hearing, the judge admonished the Carpenters for their treatment of the child.
“When it comes to the care of a child and their health and their life it’s inbreed with us that we do it right the first time and when you don’t, that’s why you are charged with the crime of child neglect resulting in bodily harm,” said Oconto County Circuit Court Judge Michael Judge.
According to court records, the Carpenters brought the child, who was almost three-years-old, to their home in the Town of Little River in November of 2008.
About 11 months later, the Oconto County Department of Health and Human Services was investigating the suspected abuse and neglect of the girl.
According to a criminal complaint filed against David Carpenter in March of 2010, the child was taken to the hospital. A doctor there told Child Protective Services she looked “like a concentration camp survivor.”
Court records say the child weighed about 21 pounds, but had weighed 23 at adoption nearly a year earlier. Doctors also reported she suffered from unexplained bruising and severe malnutrition.
The complaint says Health and Human Services officials took the child from the Carpenter home because of her emaciated condition, her injuries and lack of medical care.
A second child was also removed from the home.
Earlier this year, the Carpenters accepted a plea deal.
In addition to probation and jail time, they cannot have contact with the children or foster family taking care of the kids.”
People are worked up over a dog, but what about kids?
[Fox 11 7/13/11]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
If they have 5 years probation, how can they leave the state of WI? They have moved out of the state.
Thank you for sharing this information. I looked to the public court records to see if there were any specifics on the conditions of the probation and could not find that. David was convicted of a Class H felony, 948.21(1)(b)Neglecting a Child (Consequence is Bodily Harm)
That record does confirm that he was "Guilty Due to No Contest Plea."
I did find that you can get prior approval to transfer to another state and then the conditions of probation also transfer to another location. If they absconded without preapproval, then they are breaking the law. If they sought preapproval, then they are within the law.