How Could You? Hall of Shame-Jacquelynn Schmidt
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 Albuquerque, New Mexico, Jacquelynn Schmidt, foster parent, was sentenced to “three years in prison for abusing the first child the state Children, Youth and Families Department placed in their care after they were licensed as foster parents.”
“After four months in the Schmidt home in 2021, the child showed evidence of broken ribs and head-to-toe injuries, including trauma to his genitals — abuse that Jacquelynn blamed on the boy harming himself.
Evidence showed she called CYFD to report his “self-harm” on at least five occasions between July and November 2021, conduct that a prosecutor on Friday called a “malicious” attempt to cover up the abuse inflicted by Jacquelynn.
Jacquelynn, 29, burst into tears at the sentence imposed by Judge Stanley Whitaker. Her husband, who was fired by the Albuquerque Police Department and is facing related charges, began sobbing as he sat in the back of the courtroom.
“I think that was a just sentence for B—,” Whitaker said, referring to the child. “He deserves to have some level of accountability.”
Assistant District Attorney Savannah Brandenburg-Koch argued for the maximum 10-year sentence.
“What’s so deeply disturbing about this case was that … they had every opportunity to give this child back,” she said. Jacquelynn “didn’t have to beat this child.”
Whitaker said the abuse wasn’t a “one time thing, where she just lost her mind.”
“I find it cruel that the way of punishing this child for whatever his behavioral response, not just pushing or slapping or hitting, you go to the most sensitive place on this child’s body to create more pain and suffering,” Whitaker said. “I just cannot wrap my head around that.
“It’s not just a terrible situation. It’s criminal.”
Her attorney Ian King said his client was remorseful and noted his client “will never be a parent again” because of her conviction.
A portion of the hearing was closed to the public when Jacquelynn’s mental health challenges and childhood trauma were discussed. But Whitaker said later that her experience as a child should not be an excuse for traumatizing the boy.
As Whitaker delivered the sentence, a loud scream came from a group of her friends and family watching the hearing in the back of the courtroom. A man started yelling, as others pleaded, “Stop. Don’t. Stop this.”
The judge calmly said, “Step out.”
A man identified as Jacquelynn’s father responded loudly, “Yeah, I will step out,” and started walking aggressively past his daughter’s husband and a brief confrontation between the two ensued.
Finally, the older man left the courtroom and a Bernalillo County Sheriff’s Office deputy arrived.
The judge ordered that Jacquelynn be taken into custody in two weeks.
Key to the prosecution were a series of text messages retrieved from Nicholas’ cellphone. They showed:
Within a week after the boy came to their home, Jacquelynn began to hate being alone with him and told her husband, “I can’t do this.” Within two months, texts show she feared she was becoming a child abuser.
By September, she texted her husband that she had pinched the child’s face and pushed him.
“I’ve never hurt anyone before,” she said in a message. “But it’s like I’m blinded by rage. I’m a monster Nick. I’m evil.”
“Why did God call us to do something so stressful and hurtful,” she wrote in another text to her husband.
In another text, her husband tried to reassure her and joked that if APD were to investigate them for child abuse, “at least it will be people I know.” After his indictment in early 2022, Nicholas was fired from the APD and has appealed his termination.
The message thread had stopped by Nov. 19, 2021, when the child’s injuries were discovered during an exam by a doctor treating him for sleep apnea. The boy was removed from their care and law enforcement became involved.
During an exam by the University of New Mexico Hospital’s child abuse response team, the boy was “diagnosed with “extensive cutaneous injuries spanning from head to toe, including to his penis and scrotum as well as multiple healing rib fractures.”
Jacquelynn entered into a plea agreement in March, pleading guilty to three counts of child abuse and one count of failure to report child abuse.”
[Yahoo 8/3/24 by Colleen Heild, Albuquerque Journal, N.M]
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