How Could You? Hall of Shame-Jeremy Kindle and Scott Steffes

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 Lima, Ohio, Foster and adoptive parents Jeremy Kindle and Scott Steffes pleaded guilty to “20 counts which included sexual battery and unlawful sexual conduct with a minor. Kindle was also HIV positive and because of that, he faced felonious assault charges for each of the victims. Kindle and his husband Scott Steffes who were adopted and foster parents, were charged with over 60 counts each of having sex with multiple boys, whose ages range from 12 to 18 years old over a three-year period.”

Jeremy got a 94 year sentence on January 3, 2022. Scott was sentenced to 47 to 49 1/2 years in prison on March 10, 2022.

“Kindle, a licensed foster parent and on-call nurse for Children Services, was called into the Lima Police Department that day after a 12-year-old boy ran to the Allen County Juvenile Detention Center to report him for sexual assault.”

“It was the first time investigators from LPD had heard of the allegations. But investigatory records reviewed by The Lima News show that Children Services was first alerted to potential sexual abuse inside the Kindle-Steffes household about 11 months prior.

The Lima News reviewed police transcripts and investigatory files that weren’t available for public inspection until after Kindle and Steffes pleaded guilty and exhausted their appeals, as well as Children Services policy manuals and invoices Kindle submitted for his nursing work.

Those records show Children Services received at least two reports alleging Kindle and Steffes were sexually abusing teenage boys entrusted to their care that it apparently failed to report to a third party, potentially violating state law and internal policy, according to investigatory records and past statements from the Children Services board.

Two senior administrators resigned, while Scanland was terminated and charged with records tampering, obstructing official business and dereliction of duty for the agency’s alleged mishandling of the abuse allegations.”

“Kindle and Steffes started fostering children together soon after they were married in 2016, eventually adopting three boys.

The couple acted as unofficial spokespeople for Children Services, speaking to prospective foster parents, starring in promotional videos and talking to reporters.

When the couple adopted three boys between the ages of 3 and 8 in 2018, they called the press to document the occasion.

“We’ve been very blessed,” Kindle told The Lima News that day. “We firmly believe that God put these kids in our home, and it’s an honor and a privilege to be able to adopt them today.”

But in private, investigatory records show Kindle and Steffes routinely coerced several of their foster children and other boys staying in their home into performing sex acts with the couple, using a combination of gifts, threats and masturbation to persuade the boys into participating.”

“By the time of their arrest, Kindle and Steffes were fostering three boys and sheltering another three boys temporarily displaced by a housefire in addition to their three adopted children, all of whom were at one point under Children Services supervision.

The boys were free to smoke weed or stay overnight with girlfriends, investigatory records and interview transcripts show.

The couple gifted the boys dirt bikes, cash, flat-screen TVs and other luxuries they were unaccustomed to having before moving into the Kindle-Steffes household. And if they found themselves in legal trouble, Kindle and Steffes were there to help.

Kindle once reportedly offered fake urine so one of the boys could pass a drug test at Children Services, one of the boys told Lima Police Det. Trent Kunkleman in May 2020.

And Kindle agreed to pay for stolen goods when another boy was caught shoplifting from a hardware store, albeit in exchange for sexual favors, investigatory records and interview transcripts show.”

“The abuse reportedly started when Kindle suggested the two masturbate in front of two of the boys for “fun,” Steffes told investigators, though he later implied Kindle may have started sexually abusing children before they met.

Soon, the couple regularly performed oral sex on the boys, who would perform anal sex on Kindle and Steffes in return, according to investigatory records. Kindle coached the boys how to respond when Children Services asked questions.

The sex was so conspicuous that other boys in the home started to notice, as they saw each other enter the couple’s bedroom, according to the investigatory records.

Steffes admitted to having sexual contact with several of the boys, while Kindle reportedly had sexual contact with six boys and one adult, one of whom reportedly had sexual contact with Kindle more than 500 times, court records show.

But years would go by before Kindle and Steffes were caught.

At one point, Steffes told investigators that he wanted to stop after he and Kindle were reported to Children Services. But Kindle reportedly texted Steffes, a stay-at-home dad, while he was at work and demand Steffes have sex with the boys, according to transcripts of Steffes’s interview with the Lima Police Department.”

“For nearly 20 months, Kindle was one of the first people a child entering Children Services custody would meet.

Kindle signed a contract with the agency in September 2018 to perform intake medical exams, or basic physicals intended to check incoming children for lice, communicable disease and signs of illness, injury or maltreatment.

He presented the agency with a stellar resume: licensed foster parent, lay pastor, volunteer, nurse.

The role required Kindle to stay on call so the screenings could be completed within a few days of the child’s placement, according to a Children Services handbook outlining policies in place while Kindle was a contractor for the agency.

When Kindle signed his first of two nursing contracts with the agency, he asked Children Services to donate his earnings toward a fund for incoming foster kids so they could purchase pre-paid smartphones and other essentials, though the agency informed Kindle he would have to make those donations on his own, contracts reviewed by The Lima News showed.

Invoices show Kindle earned $473 for performing the exams, each of which took anywhere from 30 minutes to an hour and a half to complete.

All invoices were signed by a witness, though some signatures are illegible.

Kindle performed his last intake exam for the agency two days before the 12-year-old boy reported him to the JDC in May 2020.”

Foster failure: What happened in the Kindle/Steffes case
[Lima Ohio 10/15/22 by Mackenzi Klemmon]

Lima man gets nearly 100 years in prison for having sex with teenage boys
[Hometown Stations 1/3/22 by Todd Cummins]

Scott Steffes receives his sentence after pleading guilty to sixteen counts

[Hometwn Stations 3/10/22 by Satrap Singh and Joseph Sharpe]

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