How Could You? Hall of Shame- Peruvian Adoptive Parents Jim and Paige Nachtigal UPDATED

North Newton couple arrested; adopted children from Peru in protective custody [The Wichita Eagle 2/16/16 by Stan Finger]

“Reaction after three children adopted from Peru have been removed from their North Newton Home and their adoptive parents arrested has ranged from rage to disbelief.

The parents, Jim and Paige Nachtigal, were active in business and ministry in the Newton community. Jim Nachtigal serves as the CEO of Kansas Christian Home. Paige Nachtigal is a former employee of the Newton Area Chamber of Commerce. Both were actively fund-raising to go to Peru as missionaries.

That reputation, and the felony charges that appeared Tuesday, led to a prayer walk around the Harvey County Courthouse and Law Enforcement Center Wednesday morning — about 30 minutes prior to a press briefing inside by the Harvey County Sheriff’s office.

“God calls us to walk in truth and that is what I am doing,” said Trenna Davenport, one of the walk’s organizers. “I just believe in God and that he sent Jesus to testify to the truth, and I am praying for the truth.”

About a dozen people participated. They also attended a press conference at the courthouse about 30 minutes after the vigil began. Following the press conference, some walkers were in tears, based on what they heard.

They heard investigators and prosecutors allege physical abuse in addition to underfeeding two 11 year old children.

“This is the first time in my career, and I have been an attorney for 34 years now … that I have seen a medical diagnosis of child torture,” said David Yoder, county prosecutor. “I did not know there was a medical diagnosis of child torture until this case.”

Three children were removed from the Nachtigal home — a 14 year old girl, an 11 year old boy and an 11 year old girl. The oldest child was adopted about four years ago, with the 11 year old children adopted three years ago. They are not biological siblings, according to investigators.

It appears much of the alleged abuse was targeted at the 11 year old children.

“Some of it has to do with the fact that the older girl knew how to navigate around mom and dad and their emotions,” said Randy Jordan, Chief of Police for North Newton. “She knew what to do to not set them off. The younger ones, they are kids, and they did things that mom and dad called ‘sinful.'”

The words sin and sinful appeared several times as investigators discussed the case Feb. 17. Jordan said he did not know if there was a heavy religious component to the abuse and discipline in the home.

According to a newsletter published by the Nachtigals online in January, both were working to join a ministry in Iquitos, Peru. That mission was to assist in a church plant and assisting women of the area in crisis. They had published much the same in starting a gofundme.com page that has apparently been discontinued.”
Story of abuse unfolds [The Kansan 2/17/16 by Chad Frey]

REFORM Puzzle Piece

Update:”Based on interviews with the children and a doctor’s examination, authorities say Jim and Paige Nachtigal disciplined the children when they “sinned” (described as anything that upset the couple), kept two of them malnourished and neglected physical maladies, including what authorities say was a known heart condition.

The Nachtigals are in the Harvey County Jail on $300,000 bond each. They were arrested Tuesday after a child-in-need-of-care hearing at the county courthouse on suspicion of abuse of a child, aggravated battery and aggravated endangerment of a child. Additional charges may be filed once medical reports come back.

The three children from a Peru orphanage were taken into protective custody Feb. 11.

The case, which North Newton Police Chief Randy Jordan said has been “very difficult for all of us,” began on the afternoon of Feb. 5, when the department was called about a runaway child. The boy, 11, was found walking barefoot in a field, according to a release from Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton.

After carrying the boy to his vehicle, a Kansas Highway patrolman asked why he ran away, and the child said he was afraid to go back home because he hadn’t done his homework, that he had sinned and he would have to answer his father’s questions.

That night, someone close to the children’s situation talked to an officer and said something was going on at the house. They suspected the children weren’t being fed properly and there was likely abuse, Jordan said.

On Friday, the children were examined by the Wesley Pediatric Maltreatment Unit based on how malnourished they looked and because the little girl, also 11, was limping. Physicians concluded that the two 11-year-olds were severely malnourished.

The physician who examined the children classified this medically as a child torture case, which is a step above child abuse, Jordan said. The 15-year-old girl didn’t show signs of malnutrition.

The 11-year-olds were so malnourished that the girl weighs 50 pounds and the boy 60.

“The 11-year-old girl had a broken leg, the boy had a dislocated elbow, and both had broken bones and fractures that were in the healing stages,” as stated in the release. They also had numerous bruises.

The doctor also found a life-threatening serious heart condition that was being neglected. Officers believe the parents knew about the heart condition.

“Thank goodness the doctors picked up on it and he’s scheduled to see a pediatric cardiologist to start working on that piece,” Jordan said.

On Monday, the children, including the 15-year-old, went back to Wesley and were examined for about four hours. They were then interviewed at the Exploited and Missing Children’s Unit.

On Tuesday, a search warrant was served after officers learned the day before what the children’s home life was like. Officers found a board and a cane that the children described was used to punish and hit them when they had sinned.

“They were spanked repeatedly with the board; they had severe bruising on their rear ends, and then the little girl had a fracture on her leg and a linear bruise near the fracture and she said that she was stuck by her father with the cane,” Jordan said.

Documentation on the children’s adoption and doctor records was also seized on Tuesday.

The documents indicated the children were in very good condition when they left the orphanage. It also noted the boy had the heart condition. No injuries or broken bones were mentioned in the documentation.

Jordan noted that Harvey County District Attorney David Yoder said he’s fairly confident that additional charges will be filed.

“We’re trying to build a timeline as when the abuse started,” Jordan said. Based on their injuries, that could have started six months ago or even longer, he added.

In the two years Jordan has been with the department, he hasn’t seen any reports on the family and he doesn’t believe the parents have a criminal background.

“It’s our understanding there’s been numerous reports filed with DCF (Department for Children and Families), but those reports didn’t make it to my desk or my officers’,” Jordan said.

DCF hasn’t released these documents and may not, due to confidentiality reasons.

The children’s home life

During questioning, the children talked about what they were given to eat.

For breakfast, they always received two slices of untoasted bread, a banana and a little bit of water, Jordan said.

Come lunch time, “if they hadn’t sinned,” they’d be given a sandwich with a piece of meat and cheese or a peanut butter sandwich and water.

For dinner, the little ones wouldn’t be allowed to eat the meal the Nachtigals prepared. Instead, they were given a sandwich.

Jordan said the boy remembered he got chips with his sandwich once.

“He was ecstatic when he told us the story about that,” Jordan said.

The three children were home-schooled in 2014 after going to school. When they were in school, teachers were concerned about what the children were telling them, and later on the children were removed from school by their mother.

That’s when Jordan said he suspected the isolation aspect of the case. The children didn’t have cellphones, weren’t allowed to go over to their friends’ houses, and Internet wasn’t allowed.

Jordan described a “sin” as anything that made the parents upset.

The boy told officers that if he didn’t tell his mother enough times how tasty the meal was, he was disciplined. A few days before learning this, the North Newton deputy chief took the children to Wendy’s and the boy told him how delicious the hamburger was.

“It was a brutal case, I’m telling you. Emotionally, it was very difficult for all of us. You just can’t wrap your head around that – the neglect and abuse,” said Jordan, who added the investigation is ongoing.

While Jordan doesn’t know what religion the family practices, he does know the parents had gone to Peru to do missionary work.

The parents have four biological children who are older and out of the house in addition to the three adopted children from Peru.

While the older child wasn’t malnourished, Jordan said she’s traumatized and didn’t want to say what she witnessed happening to her younger siblings. Jordan hopes officers can interview her again.

“Therapy is going to be needed for all of them – her especially,” he said.

The children’s location isn’t being disclosed, but Jordan assures they’re in a safe place.”

Fear of discipline for ‘sins’ detailed: Adopted children tell of home life with North Newton couple accused of abuse [The Hutchinson News 2/17/16 by Ashley Booker]

“Authorities have confirmed to Eyewitness News that the Department of Children and Family was called 12 times to investigate the home of a Newton couple that is now charged with abusing and neglecting two of the family’s adopted children.

We are continuing to ask questions about what the reports contained and why law enforcement was never contacted.”

Police: DCF received 12 reports on N. Newton couple charged with abuse [KWCH 2/9/16 by Akeam Ashford, Pilar Pedraza,  Rachel Skytta]

“Three days after announcing the arrests of a North Newton couple whose alleged abuse of their adopted children went unheeded for what appears to be months, Randy Jordan and his investigators were sifting through paperwork.

They hope something there will cast light on how three Peruvian orphans ended up starved and abused in a tidy brick-faced house in their town.

“Mountains,” Jordan, North Newton’s police chief, said describing the stacks of records and reports.

“There’s accountability all over the place. And somewhere, some time, the system broke down. We’re trying to find out how and why.”

The married couple at the center of the investigation, Jim and Paige Nachtigal, came under the chief’s scrutiny on Feb. 8, three days after they called authorities to report that their 11-year-old boy had run away from home.

Asked why he left his family, the boy told a state trooper – who discovered him barefooted in a field – that he hadn’t done his homework. He also said feared returning home because of the sinning he had done.

At that time, the boy – who also ran away in December, Jordan said – told police nothing about beatings and inadequate meals. So authorities returned him to his parents.

But Jordan said information he received that pointed to the children being isolated bothered him. The 11-year-old boy and his two sisters — 11 and 15 — hadn’t been seen much by people who knew the family.

By Feb. 11, Jordan had enough evidence to remove all three children from their home and place them in police protective custody. Doctors later gave a diagnosis of child torture after examining the children.

Less than a week later, the Nachtigals were arrested and criminally charged with child abuse. The allegations include beatings severe enough to crack bones and intentional malnourishment.

The couple remains in Harvey County Jail, each on $300,000 bond. Jim Nachtigal is 51; Paige is 49.

On Friday, Jordan gave his deputy chief the job of finding what’s known as post-adoption reports in the stack of records that were delivered to the North Newton Police Department. The health and welfare updates are among a host of strict requirements from Peru’s government in international adoptions.

The forms are supposed to be submitted every six months for four years after a child arrives at his or her new home, according to information on the U.S. Department of the State’s website.

The Nachtigals adopted the 11-year-old girl through an agency around four years ago. The boy and the older girl were adopted together about a year later, Jordan said. So it appears they still fall under the umbrella of that reporting period, he said.

“I’m hoping that several people were interviewed or talked with about how that adoption was going and how those kids were doing and that kind of thing,” Jordan said referring to the post-adoption reports, and that the information was “not just coming from Paige and Jim.”

If others completed the evaluations, they might document concerns that otherwise went unnoticed, he said.

The North Newton Police Department also plans to spend the coming days tracking down and interviewing the people involved in various stages of the Nachtigals’ adoption process, as well as those who made welfare reports about the family to the Kansas Department for Children and Families.

Jordan said he has learned that DCF received around a dozen reports about the Nachtigals and their adoptive children, with some coming at least as early as 2014. None were forwarded to his department for further investigation, he has said.

It also appears that no one who might have suspected abuse called 911 or contacted law enforcement directly, either, Jordan said.

DCF spokeswoman Theresa Freed last week told The Eagle she couldn’t comment on the details of specific cases.

Speaking generally, however, she did say that DCF works closely with law enforcement to ensure a child’s safety when concerns are raised.”

North Newton chief on child abuse case: ‘The system broke down’ [The Wichita Eagle 2/20/16 by Amy Renee Leiker]

Update 2:“Randy Jordan is as mad as heck, and he isn’t going to take it anymore.
“I am going to be an advocate for kids and I will be very outspoken. It might ruffle feathers. But at this point in my career, I have seen too many children hurt. … We can’t make this about dollars and cents,” the North Newton police chief told The Kansan. “These kids can not protect themselves.”

Jordan continues to investigate a case against Jim and Paige Nachtigal of North Newton. The couple is scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing at 10 a.m. Feb. 25 in Municipal Court on charges of child abuse.

Jordan began to investigate the possibility of physical abuse and starvation of three children in the Nachtigal home. As result, three children adopted from Peru have been removed from the home and Jim and Paige Nachtigal were arrested.

Investigators have alleged physical abuse and malnourishment of two children age 11, and have investigated activities with a 15 year old child as well. All were adopted from Peru. County Attorney David Yoder said two of the children were medically diagnosed as tortured.

“The red flag for me was when I was talking to people and it became apparent that these kids were isolated,” Jordan said. “There is a reason for that. Something is being hidden.”

However, in some ways, the abuses he believes he found were hidden in the open. Jordan said there were multiple calls to the Department of Children and Family Services, but no calls to his department.

Those calls, he said, are difficult to quantify. An open records request by the Kansan asking DCF for the number of calls, and the dates calls were made, about the Nachtigals was denied. DCF also refused a request asking how many investigations were launched as the result of calls about the Nachtigal family. DCF refuses to “comment on individual cases.”

Jordan said there were multiple calls over the course of a year and half.

“It depends on what DCF wants to call a call. If two different people called in on the same thing, it was not necessarily two calls. It is all over the board,” Jordan said.

But there was another organization involved in this case that could have reported abuse — but did not. Jordan said there were supposed to be post-adoption reports.

“There are so many safety nets in this thing that failed,” Jordan said. “… You not only have DCF, but you also have post adoption reports. Those are supposed to be done every six months, and I think that is a safety net for the kids. I do not know how those were done,” Jordan said.

Also not shown in call lists and reports were the biological children, all of whom are now in their 20s.

The North Newton Police Department was able to get some help in this case, coming from the Harvey County Sheriff’s Department.

The investigation into abuse began after the 11 year old boy was reported missing Feb. 6. The child was found by a Kansas Highway Patrol officer. According to Harvey County Sheriff T. Walton he child was walking barefoot in a field when he was found. When he was asked about leaving home, the child told investigators he had not done his homework and he had “sinned.” Allegedly, he was afraid to go back home because of the sinning he had done.

He did not admit to any abuse at that time. According to Jordan, the child had run away once previously.

The department took the children into protective custody Feb. 11.

“There are a lot of things that bother me about this. You have politicians that want to act flabbergasted and upset about this,” Jordan said. “They are the ones that gutted DCF how many times now, and they restructured DCF. They have just as much culpability now as DCF. Those of us that work in this system saw this coming. You can’t keep cutting funds, adding more responsibility to them.””

Safety net fails: DCF, post adoption reporters did not contact police in abuse case [The Kansan 02/23/16 by Chad Frey]

“A preliminary hearing for Jim and Paige Nachtigal of North Newton, charged with child abuse of adopted children in their home, was rescheduled.

According to the County Attorney’s office, additional charges were pending and the Nachtigals will need to make a first appearance on those charges prior to a preliminary hearing.

The added charges include seven counts of aggravated battery and two counts of child abuse/torture.

A first appearance hearing for the new charges will be 2 p.m. Feb. 26.

In a press conference Feb. 17 County Attorney David Yoder said more charges could be filed.

Feb. 17 in front of a crowd that included both media and supporters of the Natchtigals, investigators told stories of abuse that included striking the children with a board and cane. The targets of the abuse, it was alleged, were two 11-year-old children living in the home. Investigators also allege that the children were underfed.

The case began Feb. 5, when one of the 11-year-old children ran away from home. The child was reported missing by his parents, later located by a member of the Kansas Highway Patrol in a farm field walking barefoot.

He told officers he left the home because “he had not done is homework and he had sinned,” said Sheriff T. Walton.

Three days later North Newton Police Chief Randy Jordan launched an investigation, talking to those close to the family and neighbors about concerns. The children were removed from their home Feb. 11 by North Newton Police Department over concerns about the treatment of the children. Medical examinations began Feb. 12.

During those exams one boy and one girl were found to be severely malnourished with multiple bruises with either current broken bones or healing of past broken bones. Injuries included a currently broken leg, a dislocated elbow that had not properly healed, formerly fracture fingers and formerly broken ribs.

Jim and Paige Nachtigal were arrested Feb. 16 after a child in need of care hearing at the Harvey County Courthouse. Yoder said that case is being pursued seperately from the criminal case filed Feb. 17.

The charges of child abuse carry sentences of up to more than 11 years in prison. The Nachtigals are both in custody under $300,000 bonds.”
Nachtigals face nine new charges [The Kansan 02/25/16]

Update 3: A search of the Kansas court records shows that Jim Nachtigal has a preliminary Hearing on 6/13/16.

Update 4:“Children forced to stand and face the wall, being deprived of food, one of them forced to scrub floors with his forehead.

Newly unsealed court documents detail some of the abuse three Newton children say they suffered at the hands of their adoptive parents.

Jim and Paige Nachtigal face several charges each of child abuse, inflicting cruel and inhumane corporal punishment on a child and other charges

The affidavit redacts the names of all family members, including the suspects. The judge also redacted one incident which he felt would be too embarrassing to the child if disclosed publicly.

The affidavit states that police began investigating after one of the children ran away in early February, 2016.

One witness told police she saw the children “terrified” and forced to face a wall for as long as two hours at a time. She says she also saw them hungry, but not allowed to have food.

Another witness told officers they saw the Nachtigals spank the children with their hands, then when their hands began hurting, she saw them begin using wooden spoons to spank them. She said one of them had become emaciated, and that Paige Nachtigal told her that she and her husband were ready to relinquish rights to the children because they had too many issues.

Police also spoke with a social worker at the middle school. That social worker stated that as soon as one of the children started attending there, they started receiving reports from teachers concerned for his welfare.

His teacher told police that he told her about instances where he was not allowed to eat, and that he only brought a peanut butter sandwich to school for lunch, and his parents did not allow him to have milk with the sandwich. The teacher reported Paige Nachtigal became very angry when she found out the teacher offered to pay for the boy to have additional food at lunch.

The teacher says she made a report to the Department of Children and Families when the boy came to school with scabs on his forehead. He told her he was forced to scrub the garage flood with his forehead.

Once the children were taken into protective custody, doctors found broken bones in the boy’s ribs, fingers and leg. Some of them had been broken for months, others were more recent.

Doctors also reported two of the children having scarring along their backs, buttocks and legs that indicated long-term physical abuse with a cane or whip.

Both parents are expected back in court on August 1st for an arraignment on the charges.”

Affidavit details abuse accusations in Newton case [KWCH 6/22/16]

Update 4:“A North Newton couple entered not guilty pleas to child abuse in Harvey County on Monday morning.

Jim and Paige Nachtigal face several others charges including inflicting cruel and inhumane corporal punishment on a child. The charges stem from a case involving the abuse of three children they adopted from Peru.

The couple is set for jury trial which on January 23, 2017 in Harvey County.

A pre-conference and motions hearing is for October 26 at 10 a.m.”

North Newton adoptive parents plead not guilty to child abuse[KWCH 8/1/16]

Update 5:“Jim and Paige Nachtigal, who are facing multiple child abuse charges, were in Harvey County District Court March 26 for a pretrial conference — with a new calendar set for court proceedings.

Following the conference Tuesday, a jury trial for Jim Nachtigal is scheduled for Sept. 12 through 23. Paige Nachtigal is scheduled for a separate jury trial Oct. 3 through Oct. 13.

A final pre-trial conference was set for Aug. 21, with a filing deadline for motions on Aug. 7

There were no motions or other filings during Tuesdays conference.

The North Newton couple was charged with multiple counts of child abuse stemming from an investigation surrounding three children adopted internationally.

At one time James Nachtigal was scheduled for trial in March, Paige Nactigal in April.

The defense requested a continuance for those trials.

Jim Nachtigal is the former administrator of an area nursing home. Shortly after charges were filed he was dismissed from that position. Paige Nachtigal is a former employee of the Newton Area Chamber of Commerce. She was not working for the chamber at the time of the charges.

The case began Feb. 5, 2016, when one of the 11-year-old children ran away from home. The child was reported missing by his parents, later located by a member of the Kansas Highway Patrol in a farm field walking barefoot.

Three days later, North Newton Police Chief Randy Jordan launched an investigation, talking to those close to the family and neighbors about concerns. The children were removed from their home Feb. 11, 2016, by the North Newton Police Department over concerns about their treatment.”

Nachtigals headed for jury trial

[Kansan 03/28/17 by Chad Frey]

Update 6:“A North Newton couple accused of abusing three Peruvian orphans they adopted have been convicted in the case.

James Nachtigal and his wife, Paige Nachtigal, will be sentenced Dec. 21 in Harvey County District Court, county attorney David Yoder said Wednesday. Each entered what is known as an Alford plea to multiple counts of child abuse on Friday. That type of plea allows a person to be convicted of a crime and take advantage of any deal that’s being offered by prosecutors without admitting guilt.

James Nachtigal was convicted of three counts of child abuse; his wife was convicted of two, Yoder said. Both are facing a sentence of 31 to 34 months on each count. The state agreed to dismiss several other felony charges in exchange for their pleas, Yoder said.

Couple accused of beating, starving adopted children convicted of abuse

[The Wichita Eagle 8/30/17 by Amy Renee Leiker]

Update 7: “The sentencing hearing for James Nachtigal and his wife, Paige, has been rescheduled 9:30 a.m. Jan. 31 at the Harvey County Courthouse.

There will not be a hearing on the originally scheduled date, Dec. 21.

In August, the Nachtigals were convicted of abusing three children they adopted from Peru. James pleaded to three counts of abuse of a child. Paige was convicted of two counts of abuse of a child. They each face 31-to-34 months in prison on each count.

The contested sentencing hearing on Jan. 31 will be in Chief Judge Joe Dickinson’s courtroom.”

Sentencing hearing for Nachtigals delayed

[The Kansan 12/13/17]

Update 8:“A Kansas missionary couple has been sentenced to two years and eight months in prison for giving brutal, religion-inspired beatings to two of the three children they adopted from Peru.

James and Paige Nachtigal, of North Newton, were sentenced Thursday for several child abuse counts. They entered Alford pleas to the charges in August in which they acknowledged prosecutors had enough evidence for convictions but admitted no guilt.

The Nachitgals were arrested in February 2016 after an 11-year-old boy was found walking barefoot in a field and told authorities he feared returning home because he hadn’t done his homework and that was a sin. The boy’s 11-year-old sister was found with a broken leg.

The couple had adopted the children from an area of Peru where they worked as missionaries.

North Newton Police Chief Randy Jordan wiped back tears as he described what he saw when he was called to the Nachtigal’s home and the injuries to the boy, KSNW reported.

“They did find there was a healing broken bone in his arm, and when he said he got hit it hurt, he got hit hard,” Jordan said. The police chief previously said the Department for Children and Families received around a dozen reports from people concerned about the couple’s treatment of their adoptive children — some coming as early as 2014 — but none were forwarded to his department for investigation.

The eldest of the adopted children escaped the brunt of the abuse and read a prepared statement during the sentencing in which she described the younger children being beaten with a cane and a wooden spoon. The girl, now 17, also said her adopted siblings were deprived of food and even a real bed.

Jim and Paige Nachtigal, who will begin their sentences next week, both spoke during the hearing.

“I had no idea of the difficulties and behaviors I would have to deal with,” said Paige Nachtigal. Jim Nachtigal was fired from his job as CEO of the Kansas Christian Home, an elderly care facility, after charges were filed.

Harvey County Attorney David Yoder told The Wichita Eagle after the hearing that the boy was adopted by his foster family and that the older girl is doing well in high school. He said the younger girl is “severely traumatized” and in a group home.

“Her recovery is going to take a lot longer,” Yoder said.”

Kansas missionaries get prison for abusing adopted children

[WTOp 3/9/18 by AP]