How Could You? Hall of Shame-Michael and Jennifer Thalmann

The boy told school officials that he was hungry and wanted to eat something other than what his mother packed him for lunch, according to the Newington police report.

The boy’s discussion with James Marciano, the principal of Newington’s Elizabeth Green School, turned to a description of alleged abuse and resulted in Marciano calling the state Department of Children and Families. Marciano is required by call to call DCF when he learns of alleged abuse.

That DCF investigation prompted a criminal investigation by Newington police. On Sunday, Michael Thalmann, 44, and Jennifer Thalmann, 48, turned themselves in to Newington police, who held arrest warrants charging each with two counts of risk of injury to a minor and two counts of cruelty to persons.

The couple moved to Pennsylvania in the months since police began investigating.

Both posted $250,000 bail and were arraigned Monday in Superior Court in New Britain, where each entered not guilty pleas. Judge Joan K. Alexander entered protective orders for the Thalmanns’ three children, including a biological child the couple is not accused of abusing, and ordered the Thalmanns to have no contact with them. The elementary-aged children are staying with a relative.

Cody Guarnieri, a lawyer who represented the Thalmanns at the arraignment, said outside court that the Thalmanns maintain their innocence.

The DCF investigation that prompted the criminal charges was not the family’s first contact with the state child-protection agency. Another DCF social worker contacted the family in the fall after school officials reported to the agency that the children said they were being forced to go into a dog cage for discipline. There were also allegations of physical abuse that included the children being spanked with a paddle.

In a subsequent interview with a DCF investigator, the children said the spankings and dog cage lockups occurred when they lived in Florida. The family moved to Connecticut in January 2013, according to DCF.

DCF recommended the parents undergo counseling and attend parenting classes, but did not contact police. State sources said DCF closed the case after the parents demonstrated a willingness to cooperate and accept counseling services.

That changed May 3, when one of the Thalmanns’ sons was sent to Marciano after he was caught stealing food from a classmate. The boy told Marciano he wanted something other than the tomatoes, pepper slices, hummus and apple his mother packed for his lunch. The boy also claimed to Marciano that his parents starved him the first few years of his life.

With the boy still in his office, according to the police report, Marciano called Jennifer Thalmann to set up a meeting. As he did, Marciano could see the boy “get very upset and cry,” according to the report. The boy “advised Marciano he was afraid to go home and that his father may paddle him.”

The boy then told Marciano he had been hit with a paddle and that his father lifted him by both arms and threw him into a wall or a chair,” according to the report. The boy also told the principal that his father had given him a bruise on his arm and that as a result he could barely move his arm.

Marciano called DCF and later that day DCF Investigative Social Worker Jose Boria arrived at the school to talk to the boy. Boria wrote in a report that the boy appeared to be “nervous, scared and upset [and] expressed concern at being paddled by his father.”

Boria, who had access to reports about prior DCF conduct with the Thalmann family, asked the boy about being placed in a dog cage.

The boy “stated being paddled and put in the dog cage stopped after DCF first investigated the abuse allegations in October 2015,” according to the report. Boria asked the boy if he was on a special diet, and he replied that the family eats healthy all the time. The boy said he is hungry sometimes and that his mother gives him seconds if he behaves and she thinks he did not eat too much.

The same day, Boria met with Jennifer Thalmann at the school, according to the police report. She told the DCF investigator that she “is constantly getting calls from the school about him stealing food,” according to the report. Boria then asked if the boy could just be hungry.

Jennifer Thalmann insisted the boy gets plenty to eat and described his lunch as hummus, vegetables and a yogurt snack. She said she does not give the children junk food or non-nutritional food.

Jennifer Thalmann also told the DCF investigator that the boy was not slammed against a wall by his father. Michael Thalmann, she told the investigator, only yelled at the boy. She did acknowledge cursing at the boy and using profanity.

When Boria asked how the children are disciplined, she said they are sent to their rooms and freedoms and objects are taken away from them. She said the children have not been paddled since they lived in Florida. She said the children were placed in dog cages “one time and they never did it again.”

Boria went to the Thalmann home that day to meet with Michael Thalmann, who acknowledged cursing at the children and picking up the boy and putting him against a wall “while yelling at him for stealing food.” Michael Thalmann also acknowledged, according to the report, that the children are called “stupid, idiot, dumb, moron and thief.”

When Boria asked why they use such harsh language toward the children, “Michael clarified that they only call the foster kids that because they are trying to help them,” according to the report. “He stated he was trying to make them accountable and teach them not to steal.”

According to the police report, Boria noted that at no time during his interview with the Thalmanns did they refer to the adopted children as “their children.”

“Boria asked them why and they had no answer,” according to the police report.

Asked about padding the children, Michael Thalmann said it happened years ago when they lived in Florida, according to the police report. When Boria asked why the paddling stopped, Michael Thalmann replied “the paddle broke and it was also not effective” with one of the children.

When Boria asked the couple about placing the children in dog cages, Michael Thalmann said it was his idea, according to the report. “Michael stated that because the adopted kids were stealing food all the time he wanted to teach them that if you steal when you are older, you go to jail,” according to the report. Michael Thalmann said he would still be putting the children in cages had DCF not been in contact with the family the previous fall.

Boria met with the Thalmanns’ daughter, who he noted appeared thin. She was eating with chop sticks, according to the report. Boria then asked the girl if she was eating Chinese food. She “stated no and explained that her mother makes her eat with chop sticks because she eats too fast.”

Several weeks later, Boria met with the children at school. He asked them about discipline, including spankings and the dog cage, and noted that the boy appeared to be thinner than the last time he saw him.

The boy told Boria that he was unable to unlock the dog cage because he was so skinny. The next two or three times he was placed in the cage, his father secured it with a bungee cord, he said, according to the report.

On May 26, Boria went to the Thalmann home unannounced. He asked about a report he’s received that the girl was in the backyard looking for worms to eat because she’d gotten into trouble, according to the report.

Michael Thalmann replied that it was a scavenger hunt, something he did growing up. He said as a child he would find worms and eat them and that it wasn’t a big deal, according to the report. He said the children did not have to eat the worms they found.

When Boria asked the couple about the children’s eating habits, according to the report, they became upset. They claimed, Boria wrote in a report, that Boria “wanted to have their kids eat junk and risk them having diabetes and having limbs cut off.”

“Jennifer went on to say she now gives [the boy] gold fish [crackers] with his snacks so he does not take it from other kids,” according to the report. “Michael stated they just started giving him more food. Michael also stated that no DCF person was going to make him feed his kid junk food and have him become a diabetic.”

Boria contacted the children’s pediatrician, who expressed concern that they are underweight. A DCF nurse consulted with the doctor and they agreed they had “serious concern” about the children being under weight.

Boria met with the couple’s biological child and noted he was heavier than his siblings. The boy “stated his father does not like his sister or brother, and he yells at them,” according to the report. The couple is not accused of abusing their biological son.”

Police Report: Children Locked In Dog Cage, Deprived Of Food, Physically Abused[Hartford Courant 9/26/16 by David Owens]

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