How Could You? Hall of Shame-Ukrainian Adoptive Parents Dr. Alan Friz and Aimee Friz
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.
Thanks to an anonymous reader who told us this 2017 story.
From Huntington, Indiana, Ukrainian adoptive parents Dr. Alan Friz and Aimee Friz are accused of keeping their 14-year-old Ukrainian daughter “locked in a cage every night for a month, depriving the girl of food and water and sexually molesting her — even while she was locked in the cage.”
“Friz and his wife Aimee Friz, 36, were arrested last week and arraigned in Dubois County Court on Thursday, said the Dubois County Free Press. Police were called to their house on a report of an out of control child, but what officers found shocked and appalled them.
“According to court documents, when executing the search warrant on the home, officers located a wooden cage containing a mattress and pan for the child to use to go to the restroom when she was kept there overnight. The cage was labeled with the child’s name,” said the Free Press.
The girl was kept in the cage each night for the month of September. Friz told police his daughter had threatened to harm other members of the family and had to be confined.
Deputies contacted the Department of Family and Children’s Services to assess the girl, who is developmentally impaired. In interviews, she revealed that not only was she freqeuently caged as punishment, she told investigators that her father “routinely touched her breasts.”
“According to court documents,” the Free Press said, “the teen girl said the incidents began when she was 13. The allegations include incidents in which Mr. Friz entered the bathroom while the girl was showering. In another described incident, he allegedly entered her room, turned the light off and touched her breasts until some of the other children entered the room and turned the lights on.”
She also told investigators that her father sexually fondled her while she was in the cage and unable to escape, which she says she reported to her mother, who ignored the allegations.
Upon meeting with Family and Children’s Services, deputies attempted to arrest Mr. and Mrs. Friz and take the children into protective custody, only to find that Mrs. Friz had fled the residence with all of the couple’s children.
Alan Friz was taken into custody as the sheriff’s department tracked Aimee Friz’s phone to St. Louis. However, on Thursday, Mrs. Friz was spotted by officers outside the courthouse where her husband was scheduled for arraignment. Officers arrested and jailed her.”
Indiana dentist on why he kept 14-year-old daughter in a cage and molested her: ‘The Lord is good’
[Raw Story 10/11/17 by David Ferguson]
“While searching the residence, a man identified as Kenneth L. Le Fevre, 24, arrived and told deputies he rented a room at the residence. He became very disruptive, according to police, and was asked to leave the property by deputies. He refused to leave and had to be physically removed by deputies.
According to police, they gave Le Fevre multiple opportunities to leave and warned him he would be arrested if he didn’t comply. He would not leave and his actions made the scene very chaotic so deputies took him into custody.
Le Fevre was arrested for Resisting Law Enforcement as Class A Misdemeanor. He is currently being held on a on a $500 bond.”
Huntingburg man arrested for neglect after cage found in closet of his home
[Dubois County Free Press 10/5/17]
“The Dubois County Sheriff’s Department made contact with the female juvenile in question as well as Alan and Aimee Friz and then requested assistance from the Dubois County Office of Family and Children Services.
The juvenile reportedly told authorities she had been in the house playing with a ball when her grandfather became angry. In court documents, the juvenile reported the ball bounced toward her grandfather, he kept it and the situation intensified.
The grandfather reportedly told authorities the other children were in the living room attending to daily studies when the juvenile bouncing the ball in the kitchen became disruptive, according to court documents.
Court documents indicate Aimee told authorities she and Alan Friz worried about the juvenile’s behavior.
Aimee allegedly told authorities the juvenile had made the comment of killing her (Aimee’s) unborn child and killing her as well, according to court documents.
During a forensic interview conducted with the assistance of the Dubois County Prosecutor’s Office, the juvenile alleged she slept in a cage at night and was locked in it with a chain and a combination lock. She reported she was let back out in the morning.
After completing the interview with the juvenile, the sheriff’s department sought and received a search warrant from Dubois Circuit Court.
Troopers with the Indiana State Police were requested to assist deputies with the resulting search.
Authorities say a closet area of a bedroom was found to have been converted into a lockable cage where the juvenile was allegedly kept for extended periods of time.
The 4-by-8 cage is described in court documents as having a mattress and a label on its front door indicating it was the juvenile’s cage. It did not have running water or electricity. The juvenile had reportedly been given a pan so she could use it to go to the bathroom, according to court documents.
When the juvenile’s report of the cage was confirmed, authorities said, Alan Friz was taken into custody.”
“Brian M. Abshire, pastor at Covenant Reformed Church, Evansville Indiana wrote a lengthy post and asked that Christians everywhere consider exactly what the Frizes were attempting to accomplish and also to consider the mental state of their adopted daughter and how they were seeking to get her help rather than be negligent or cruel.
Here’s what Mr. Abshire had to say.
“Today, a respected and well-loved member of our congregation was arraigned on two felony accounts of neglect of a dependent and criminal confinement. His wife has also been charged. Initially because she is almost nine months pregnant, she was under house arrest. Now, she is in jail as well. Meanwhile, the state has taken custody of their children.
So what great evil did this Christian couple commit against their eldest daughter? [uh… are you serious?] Allegedly, the daughter had made repeated threats to murder the family in their sleep. While trying to find professional help, the parents made sure she could not get out of bed at night; apparently by putting her bed in a lockable, walk-in closet. Was this an unreasonable act? Well, context, as they say, is everything.
First, some background and context; when Alan and Amy first married, they did not think that she could have children. Having a lot of love, they chose to go through the enormous red-tape and expense of adopting two children from the Ukraine. Alan is a medical professional, and well understood that such children often need extraordinary amounts of love and care; but that love is what they had in abundance.
Then, in the way of things, Amy got pregnant with their first natural born child; and got pregnant again and again (with twins and triplets)! Eventually, God blessed them with a total of ten children (including the two adopted ones) with number eleven to arrive shortly. At this point, if you want a picture of this family, think, “Sound of Music.” This is a loving home, with a very definite 19th century value system. The kids study at home, have chores on the family farm, lots of pets and animals to love and care for. And just like the Sound of Music, the family puts on plays and musical numbers as a normal part of their family life. OK, the boys are often loud, boisterous and love to roughhouse. However, these children are always respectful to adults and attentive in church. From anyone’s perspective, this is just about as healthy, normal and happy a family as we ever see in modern America.
But there was something dark growing in the background. Alan and Amy began to have concerns about their eldest, adopted daughter. It has been reported that developmentally, she had lagged far behind, even her much younger siblings. As she grew older, she exhibited serious behavioral issues such as constant lying (even when the lie was blatantly false and served no purpose), extreme aggressiveness towards her siblings, and, here is where it gets chilling, killing small animals. At first, Alan and Amy hoped this was a product of her developmental issues; that she literally did not know what she was doing when she “gave a bath” to the family pet snake by dropping it into scalding water. But things got even worse.
She began running away, going from house to house saying she was homeless and wanted a job. She threatened her male siblings that if they did not do what she wanted, she would accuse them of touching her inappropriately. She cheerfully talked of dreams of taking a knife and killing her mother and the baby inside of her.
Alan and Amy were rightly concerned and as I understand it, were seeking professional counsel on how to deal with her. This was not normal, adolescence angst or teenage rebellion. Apparently, the young girl was showing signs of sociopathy; of not having a conscience and was willing to inflict harm on others, just for the fun of it.
While pastoral confidentiality must govern much of the details, I can say that Alan and Amy’s real fear of the harm this girl might do, was compounded by concern for the damage that she could do to the family, if Social Services believed her multiple false accusations. Apparently, she has made sexual accusations against every male she has come into contact with, even when those accusations were clearly impossible. The parents were trying to find some residential facility that the girl could attend; a place where her behavior could be contained, and where she would not be able to harm herself and others. As I understand it, when they described her symptoms to various institutions, nobody wanted the responsibility of dealing with a potentially dangerous young woman.[Yeah, right]
So, on the day that he was arrested, Alan told me that he locked her in at night so that she could not carry out her threats to kill them. As far as I know, the young woman was not confined apart from at night. She was free during the day, did whatever home school she could, or the few chores around the house that she was capable of. Now she did have to be closely supervised lest she harm her siblings, but fully participated in all family activities. There was literally, nothing different about her life, than any other member of the family. But since, she had repeatedly threatened the most horrific sorts of violence, Alan and Amy thought keeping her confined at night was the best way to deal with the danger, until they could find her a more permanent solution. Think of it this way, if the family had a home where each of the children could have their own room, what would be the ethics of locking a child, in their room, at night?
Things came to a head, early in the first week of October. First, the girl ran off again. Then, after the police brought her home, she assaulted her physically handicapped Grandpa, punching him the face and kicking him in the groin. This was not a normal, hormonal teenager acting out of frustration or anger; this was a determined attack, intending to inflict serious bodily harm. Alan’s fear for the welfare of his family, overcame his fear of what the State often does to Christian homeschooling families.[Oh , please] He talked to the police and they brought him and the daughter in for questioning. Within a short amount of time, the police got a judge to issue a search warrant where they found the girl’s bed. Arrests, charges and taking custody of the rest of the children followed.
As a medical professional who runs his own business in a small community, Alan is not only facing the loss of his freedom, but complete financial disaster. His children are now in the care of Social Services. [Good!] And surely, I am not the only one to see the irony of the State putting a man behind bars, because he tried to restrain his eldest daughter from hurting others.
This family needs the prayers and support of the broader Christian community. They took an orphaned child into their home, motivated by nothing but love and compassion. That child, probably due to early trauma experienced in the orphanage where she spent the first part of her life, may well have severe brain dysfunction that cause erratic and dangerous behavior. When she was young and weak, she could not do much damage. But as she grew older, stronger and cannier, apparently she has learned how to use lies to manipulate others, and even if unintentionally, destroy the lives of those who love her the most. We can all legitimately sympathize with and pity a child whose brain does not function properly; who does not perceive reality normally, who probably does not really understand the damage she is doing to others. But that does not change the fact that she is a danger to herself and others; a danger her father tried to mitigate until they could find her the help she needed.
So now Alan and Amy are on trial for trying to be responsible, loving parents. Even if they are acquitted of all charges, the legal fees, the loss of his business, and the trauma caused to their other children by having been removed from their home and farmed out to strangers, will change this family forever. Every Christian pastor ought to be preaching about this issue. Every Christian home-schooler ought to spread the word to their friends, families and coop members and ask for prayer. Every Christian, regardless of denomination, theology or even whether they home-school ought to be concerned about what happened to this family, because it can happen to yours.”
[The Washington Standard 10/8/17 by Tim Brown]
“A Huntingburg dentist taken into custody last week and preliminarily accused of neglect and criminal confinement was formerly charged with 26 criminal counts Monday, including four felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor, 11 felony counts of neglect, and 11 felony counts of criminal confinement.
His wife is also facing 11 felony counts of neglect and 11 felony counts of criminal confinement.
Those formal charges were read into the record and bonds were set Monday for Alan P. Friz, 57, and his wife, Aimee Friz, 36,”
“Alan Friz was brought into Dubois Circuit Court at 11:42 a.m. Monday to continue his initial appearance. Minutes later, as Judge Nathan Verkamp began reviewing his charges, Friz appeared to go unresponsive while seated in a chair next to Jasper Attorney Timothy Demotte. Officers and jail security personnel came to his aid, patted Friz to revive him and asked him basic questions, which he appeared to answer.
Authorities indicated he declined to be transported to the hospital after being checked out by EMTs. He and Aimee Friz later appeared separately for initial hearings that were concluded Monday.”
“Quinn sought a $100,000 bond for Alan Friz and a $50,000 bond for Aimee Friz.
The latter’s counsel, Tell City Attorney Michael Hagedorn, said his client was 8 1/2 months pregnant, had no criminal history and would not have the sufficient resources to post such a high proposed bond. Demotte also cited his client’s lifetime of residency in Dubois County and lack of criminal history in requesting a lesser bond.
Verkamp set the cash-only bonds for the couple at $10,000 for Aimee Friz and $25,000 for Alan Friz. Both were ordered to have no contact with the juvenile victim. An additional condition of the bonds for each required that they not leave the state and appear for all future court dates.
Both were still lodged in the Dubois County Security Center this morning. They are due back in court Nov. 9 for separate preliminary hearings.”
“A probable cause affidavit filed Monday along with Alan Friz’s formal charges noted a second forensic interview that occurred with the victim Friday in which she alleged being improperly touched by Alan Friz multiple times.
According to court documents, the alleged sexual misconduct at the center of the charges occurred between Sept. 1 and 30 and included inappropriate touching. The juvenile alleged Alan Friz touched her breasts on multiple occasions and she said that every time he hugged her, he touched her breast. The juvenile cited other occasions when he allegedly touched her inappropriately while she was in the shower, in her bedroom and in the cage.”
“The charges against the couple are Level 5 and Level 6 felonies. The penalty for a Level 5 felony is a term of incarceration of six years maximum down to one year minimum and a fine of up to $10,000. The penalty for a Level 6 felony is a term of incarceration of two and a half years maximum down to six months minimum and, once again, a fine of up to $10,000.”
Sexual misconduct added to dentist’s criminal counts
[Dubois County Herald 10/9/17 by Bill Powell]
“A Huntingburg dentist and his wife accused of locking their daughter in a cage will serve no jail time after they pleaded guilty to two counts of neglect of a dependent.
Police arrested 58-year-old Alan Friz and his wife, 37-year-old Aimee Friz, in October 2019. Alan was charged with 11 felony counts of criminal confinement, 11 felony counts of neglect, and four felony counts of sexual misconduct with a minor. Aimee was charged with 11 felony counts of criminal confinement and 11 felony counts of neglect.
The couple was supposed to be tried in Dubois County, but they argued they wouldn’t get a fair trial there. The case was then moved to Crawford Court.
All charges were dismissed except two counts of neglect of a dependent with the convictions changed from Level 6 felonies to Class A misdemeanors in a negotiated plea deal.
Both were sentenced to two years of probation. The first year is to be supervised probation, and the remaining time is unsupervised probation.
The Crime
Police went to the couple’s home at… after a report that the girl, who was “mentally retarded”, was out of control.
When officers arrived, they spoke with her parents and found the teenage girl in the garage.
The girl told police, that her grandfather was angry because she was bouncing a ball in the house. The grandfather took the ball and wouldn’t give it back. The grandfather said she was disruptive to the other children who were studying. The two then got into a scuffle, and both ended up on the floor. Then the police were called.
While deputies interviewed Aimee Friz, she told them the girl had made threats about killing her and her unborn child. When officers offered to take the girl to the hospital for evaluation, Aimee Friz told them they were attempting to find the girl help on their own.
Deputies contacted Division of Family and Children regarding the incident, and a teen did a forensic interview the same day. During the interview, the girl told investigators she was forced to sleep in a cage at night and other times. She described the cage and told investigators where they would find it.
After being granted a search warrant, deputies contacted the Indiana State Police to assist with the search of the home. During the search, officers located a wooden cage in a closet of a bedroom in the home. It was described as being about 4-by-8 in size and had a mattress in it. The girl’s name was above the entrance. It did not have running water or electricity, and a pan was left for the girl to use as a bathroom while she was in it. During those times, the cage was locked with a padlock and chain.
After locating the cage, deputies arrested Alan Friz who admitted they had locked the teen in the cage overnight, but it was to protect his wife and other children because the girl made threats to harm them.
The Division of Family and Child Services arrived to remove the other children, but found that Amiee Friz had fled while police were gathering information. Dubois County Dispatch was directed to ping her cell phone in an attempt to locate her. An officer contacted her, and she was told to return home with the children, but she hung up on the officer.
Amiee Friz was finally located in St. Louis and ordered to bring the children back to Indiana.”
Dentist and Wife Will Face No Prison Time After Pleading Guilty to Neglect of a Dependent
[WBIW 2/25/2020 ]
I wonder why the Indiana Dentistry Board has not pulled his license? See https://mylicense.in.gov/everification/Details.aspx?result=7c261a19-fab9-4427-960e-07e42be123bc
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