How Could You? Hall of Shame-Louis Charles Chandler 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 Cutlerville, Michigan, former foster father Louis Charles Chandler,60, “has been ordered to stand trial on accusations he sexually assaulting two girls under his care before the state revoked his foster care license in 2011.”

“Louis Charles Chandler, 60, appeared in 63rd District Court on Monday on multiple counts of criminal sexual conduct, one involving a mentally disabled adult and the other a girl who was 8 at the time of the alleged assaults.

Judge Jeffrey O’Hara ordered the cases against Chandler bound over to Kent County Circuit Court for trial. Chandler already faces trial in a separate case involving an 8-year-old girl.

Authorities say the victims were all assaulted at Chandler’s home at …, near Ideal Park in Cutlerville.

Michigan Department of Human Services spokesman Bob Wheaton said Chandler was licensed to provide foster care for three children at the Blenheim address, a single-wide trailer located north of M-6. His license was revoked in 2011, but Wheaton did not disclose why.

In November 2010, the Kent County Sheriff’s Department received a referral from Child Protective Services when an elementary school student revealed that her foster father put his hands on her private parts, according to court records. During an interview at an elementary school in Kentwood, the girl said she was touched at the foster home and at a theater while seeing “Despicable Me.”

“She says this happens every time she goes to the movie theater with Louis,” according to a probable cause affidavit in 63rd District Court.

On March 30, the girl, now 12, was re-interviewed at the Children’s Assessment Center in Grand Rapids. Based on her statements, the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office authorized a warrant charging Chandler with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim less than 13.

The case involving a mentally disabled victim involves an 18-year-old who says she was sexually assaulted over the course of several months in 2008 while under Chandler’s care. The victim said she was assaulted at Chandler’s home and at South Wyoming United Methodist Church, where he worked as a custodian. The alleged victim was re-interviewed March 25.

Based on her statements, Chandler was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct involving a mentally disabled person.

In court Monday, Kent County Assistant Prosecutor Robin Esslinger indicated Chandler will be allowed to plead guilty to one count in each of the criminal cases and additional charges will be dismissed. The offenses carry a maximum term of up to life in prison.

Chandler is due in Kent County Circuit Court next week for second-degree criminal sexual conduct, a felony punishable by up to 15 years in prison. The assaults allegedly occurred between 2011 and November 2014.

He had been out on bond in that case, until his April 8 arrest on charges involving the other two victims.”

Ex-foster dad charged with abusing girls in his care[Detroit Free Press 4/21/15 by John Hogan]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

 

Update: “The first of three people police say were sexually assaulted by a 60-year-old foster parent took the stand Tuesday, July 7, to say she was criminally touched by the man when she was 8 years old.

Louis Charles Chandler faces three trials accusing him of the sexual assault of two children and a mentally disabled woman between 2008 and 2014.

One of the alleged victims who took the stand said when she was 8 she was twice assaulted by Chandler in the Wyoming home where he has allegedly cared for more than 40 foster children. The girl is now 12.

The girl said she was assaulted by her foster father in a bedroom and in the family’s TV room, where there was also a computer, and in Chandler’s bedroom.

“I just stood there, scared,” the girl said describing her assault by the man and saying she asked him to stop. “He ignored me.”

The girl said that the assault only stopped when Chandler’s wife came into the room.

After she was removed from the Chandler home following a Child Protective Services investigation in 2010, the girl was adopted by another family.

But Chandler’s attorney, Jonathan Schildgen of the Kent County Office of the Defender, says the victim has a history of theft, lying and false allegations made against foster care providers in an attempt to be returned to the biological mother from whose home she had been removed.

Schildgen claims the girl told one investigator that “it is fun to lie.” But the girl, on the edge of tears, said she did not remember saying that. She did admit to petty theft and dishonesty.

The girl denied making statements in 2010 quoted by a CPS investigator where she reportedly claimed Chandler had assaulted her in a movie theater restroom. That investigation ended without charges.

She also denied making statements that she had been assaulted multiple times by Chandler.

“It happened twice,” the girl said as her adoptive mother watched from the gallery.
She said she had been removed from a prior home after claiming her foster father swung her around by her hair and made her eat soap.

But the girl denied Schildgen’s contention that she sabotaged foster placements.

Chandler is charged with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct in this case, which is expected to last until Friday when a jury will decide if he is guilty of the crimes that carry a potential sentence of life in prison.

Chandler faces two more trials slated to begin next month.

The charges in this week’s trial result from the investigation of allegations from another 8-year-old girl last fall who said Chandler would touch her private parts in the living room of his home south of Ideal Park, even as the defendant’s wife was in the same room, between January of 2011 and November of 2014.

Police were also were made aware of allegations from a mentally disabled woman who said she lived with Chandler for nine days in 2008.

The woman reported that during that time, Chandler had sex with her in his home and in the restroom of South Wyoming United Methodist where he worked as a custodian.

The woman said she threatened to call the police, but said Chandler would not let her use the phone.

On May 18, Chandler turned down a plea offer from the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office that would have included a minimum sentence of between approximately seven and 11 years.

Now Assistant Kent County Prosecutor Travis Earley said the state would be seeking a mandatory minimum sentence of 25 years upon conviction.

The victims in the other cases could be called to testify by the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office in order to show a pattern of behavior on the part of Chandler.

Chandler remains in the Kent County Jail on a $100,000 bond.”

12-year-old girl claims sexual abuse by foster father in first of three trials[M Live 7/8/15 by Barton Deiters]

“A jury today convicted a former Kent County foster father of sexually assaulting a girl at his Cutlerville home when the victim was eight years old.

Louis Charles Chandler, 60, was found guilty on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct. He faces up to life in prison when he appears back in front of Judge Mark Trusock for sentencing Aug. 20.

Jurors returned the verdict at 4:30 p.m. after deliberating about three hours. Chandler also faces trial in two separate cases for allegedly assaulting children and a mentally disabled woman between 2008 and 2012.

Authorities say the victims were all assaulted at Chandler’s home at 6076 Blenheim Drive SW, near Ideal Park in Cutlerville.

Michigan Department of Human Services spokesman Bob Wheaton said Chandler was licensed to provide foster care for three children at the Blenheim address, a single-wide trailer located north of M-6. His license was revoked in 2011.

It was a year earlier, in Nov. 2010, the Kent County Sheriff’s Department received a referral from Child Protective Services when an elementary school student revealed that her foster father put his hands on her private parts, according to court records. During an interview at an elementary school in Kentwood, the girl said she was touched at the foster home and at a theater while seeing Despicable Me.

“She says this happens every time she goes to the movie theater with Louis,” according to a probable cause affidavit in 63rd District Court. On March 30, the girl, now 12, was re-interviewed at the Children’s Assessment Center in Grand Rapids. Based on her statements, the Kent County Prosecutor’s Office authorized a warrant charging Chandler with two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct with a victim less than 13.”

“The case involving a mentally-disabled person came to light when the alleged victim, now 18, said she was sexually assaulted over the course of several months in 2008 while under Chandler’s care. She told investigators the assaults occurred at Chandler’s home and at South Wyoming United Methodist Church, where he worked as a custodian.

Based on her statements, Chandler was charged with two counts of criminal sexual conduct involving a mentally-disabled person.

The Kent County prosecutor’s office offered Chandler a plea deal that would’ve allowed him to plead guilty to one count in each of the criminal cases. Under the agreement, the prosecutor’s office said additional charges would be dismissed. Chandler instead opted to take his chances before a jury.

Trial dates on the other two cases are pending.

Chandler was returned to the Kent County Jail, where he is being held on a $200,000 bond. He was released on bond after his arrest earlier year, but a judge set the higher bond when new charges were filed against Chandler in April.”

Kent Co. foster dad guilty of sexual assault of girl, 8.[WZZM 7/9/15 by John Hogan]

Update 2:”A young girl stood bravely in a Kent County courtroom, clutching a piece of paper that explained her thoughts about former foster parent Louis Charles Chandler.

“What you did was nasty. You should never get out of prison, because you are a bad person,” the girl, 8, read aloud in court.

“You made my life so difficult,” the girl said.

The girl was one of two young victims of the 60-year-old Chandler.

He was sentenced Thursday, Aug. 20, to 25-75 years in prison on two counts of first-degree criminal sexual conduct and two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct.

Police say Chandler in recent years assaulted two young girls, both 8 at the time of assaults.

He also was alleged to have sexually assaulted a mentally disabled woman who lived with him briefly in 2008.

The young girl who stood at the courtroom podium Thursday told how Chandler would touch her private parts in the living room of his home south of Ideal Park in Wyoming, even as the defendant’s wife was in the same room.

The other girl, during a July trial, testified Chandler was her foster parent when he assaulted her twice, in a bedroom and in the family’s TV room. She was 12 when she testified, but only 8 when the assaults occurred.

Kent County Circuit Court Judge Mark Trusock had harsh words for Chandler.

“I am absolutely convinced you are a pedophile,” Trusock told Chandler.

“I’ve been doing this for 30 years,” Trusock said of his legal career, “and it’s quite clear you are.

“What you did to these children is absolutely reprehensible,” he said. “You’re supposed to be caring for these young children. They’re not there for your amusement and abusive behavior.

“They did absolutely nothing to deserve this,” he said.”

‘What you did was nasty,’ young sex assault victim tells foster parent molester[M Live 8/20/15 by John Tunison]