Mesa County boy allegedly handcuffed, beaten by couple

By Paul Shockley
Grand Junction CO, Colorado
April 25, 2008

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    GRAND JUNCTION — A teenage boy was allegedly handcuffed to a home’s banister for entire days, beaten with a leather belt, hit, kicked and starved in an alleged pattern of abuse stretching at least over seven months ending in July 2006, according to an arrest warrant affidavit.

    The same court record says Colorado and Mesa County Human Service caseworkers received referrals over years involving the boy.

    The Colorado Department of Human Services first received a referral involving the boy, now 15, in November 2001.

    According to the affidavit, Kristie Moore, 34, and John Wilson, 40, said “they felt they had not done anything wrong” in using handcuffs to discipline their son.

    Moore was the boy’s stepmother and Wilson is the boy’s biological father.

    Moore was arrested Wednesday on a Mesa County Sheriff’s warrant alleging two counts of felony child abuse, complicity to commit sexual assault on child by a person in a position of trust and false imprisonment.

    “I’ve never been in trouble before,” Moore said during a first court appearance Thursday.

    She said she’s been in a “steady” relationship for seven years.

    County Court Judge Bruce Raaum ordered her held at the Mesa County Jail on $200,000 bond.

    Wilson was arrested Thursday night by sheriff’s deputies, according to radio traffic from Grand Junction dispatchers.

    The affidavit in Moore’s case says the boy and his now-16-year-old sister — both alleged victims at the hands of Moore and Wilson — were removed from the home in 2006 and currently live with extended family.

Handcuffs ‘too much?’

    The boy was 13 when he ran away from the family’s former home, 3145 Brownie Circle Unit 10, to stay with his father’s relatives on July 20, 2006.

    “(Boy) reported he had been handcuffed to the banister at their home ... until his father (got home) from work.”

    The boy said this went on “almost daily,” at times also denied food, drink or access to the bathroom until his father came home at night.

    The boy said the handcuffs were attached to a bike lock, fixed to the banister.

    He said it happened any time of day, occasionally in the morning.

    The boy had fresh blood wounds on his wrist. He appeared pale and famished. An affidavit says he weighed 95 pounds in July 2006. A physician said the boy’s weight was in the “25th percentile.”

    The boy and his sister were placed in protective custody.

    When told the daughter was being taken into custody, Wilson allegedly replied, “Why, we didn’t do anything to her?”

    “Deputy Burg reported John Wilson seemed to stress on the word ‘her.’”

    Moore told deputies they’d handcuffed the boy “at least six times” in the past month. She said they only did it when he got “out of control.”

    Moore said the boy was on ADD medication, despite the fact she and Wilson were recently told he doesn’t have the disorder.

    Wilson, meanwhile, acknowledged they took the boy to Colorado West Mental Health and the boy was referred to family counseling.

    “John Wilson thought this was (the boy’s) issue and the rest of the family did not need help,” the affidavit says.

    “It was noted by Deputy Ballewag, John Wilson was very casual and appeared unconcerned about the use of handcuffs, asking the officer if he felt the handcuffs were too much,” according to the affidavit. The deputy didn’t respond.

    The girl told investigators that her brother, at times, was already handcuffed when she woke in the morning and stayed that way until 9 p.m. or so, “when he is escorted to his bedroom.”

    Parents allegedly made sure that’s where he stayed.

    A search of the boy’s room showed the door knob was installed backwards, “as if to lock a person in the room,” the affidavit says.

    An alarm was perched at the top coroner of the door.

    The boy’s sister, meanwhile, said she was never handcuffed but was beaten on the buttocks with a belt. She recalled being punished around age 12 for stealing food.

    “Her punishment was sitting at the kitchen table from the time she got home from school until she went to bed.”

    It went on for a year.

    She said she wasn’t allowed to go outside or have contact with friends.

Relatives reported nothing

    Darcy Wilson, a relative of John Wilson, told investigators she had seen the boy in handcuffs more than 15 times over eight months leading up July 2006. She first saw the handcuffs in December 2005.

    “... other family members were aware of the handcuffing, and (Darcy) even tried to report it to DHS when they lived in the Denver area, but the family moved frequently and nothing was ever done,” the affidavit reads.

    Darcy Wilson said the boy was refused lunch if he was “bad.”

    “Darcy Wilson reported knowing (boy) was allowed one bowl of oatmeal for (breakfast), a peanut butter sandwich for lunch and one ‘TV dinner’ for the evening, and there were no snacks,” the affidavit says.

    Darcy Wilson also offered “alternative discipline options,” such as physical exercise.

    Moore “took it to an extreme,” the affidavit says.

    “Kristie Moore told her she would have (boy) do jumping jacks or stair steps for several consecutive hours on weekends due to not completing chores and he was handcuffed during the week.”

Where was DHS?

    The affidavit says the state’s child protection system should have seen red flags.

    A referral in November 2001 by a social worker at the Front Range’s Fairview Elementary School noted the boy was sent to the office for acting out.

    The boy was “sucking hard on his hands and arms.”

    When asked why, he said he always did that.

    The boy expected trouble at home because of trouble in the classroom.

    “... When I’m bad (father) hits me all over with either his hand or his belt.”

    He was being seen at the school for ADHD, but the father wasn’t getting the boy’s prescribed medication.

    When state social workers were mentioned, the boy appeared scared.

    “(Boy) reports then his father only plays too rough with him. At that time, there was a new girlfriend in the residence, who appeared protective of the children.”

    The Colorado Department of Human Services cleared the case as unfounded.

    The arrest affidavit cites “additional reports” of abuse, but contains no dates or other detail.

    One of the alleged reports involved John Wilson putting his hand around his son’s neck and “taking him to the basement.”

    “When contacted, the parties explained it as less with no child witnesses or it did not occur.”

    Mesa County Human Services received a referral involving the family on May 13, 2005.

    In an incident involving law enforcement, Moore allegedly hit the boy and caused a scratch.

    Kristie Moore claimed the boy was stealing and violating a house rule: The boy had put sugar on his food.

    “(Boy) reported Kristie Moore made him stand in the corner, and as Moore passed behind him, pushed him with her back and grabbed him by the arm, and threw (boy) into the fridge.”

    “The case was closed unfounded by the caseworker.”

    That individual also noted the family never reached out for DHS services, which were offered upon closure of the case.

    Karen Guillen, spokeswoman for Mesa County DHS, said she didn’t know the total number of local DHS referrals involving Moore, Wilson and the boy.

    “I’m not sure if that’s public information for us to release,” Guillen said.

    Guillen said Mesa County DHS policy mandates an investigation if three abuse referrals are received in two years or less involving the same child and family.

    “I don’t know if that single act alone (throwing a child into a refrigerator) would justify removing a him from the home,” Guillen said. “It sounds like we tried to work with this family.”

And the delay?

    Arrest warrants for Moore and Wilson were not signed until April 15.

    That’s more than a year after a mental health evaluation was completed on the boy and his sister. A doctor concluded both suffer from a host of issues, including post traumatic stress disorder.

    Chief Deputy District Attorney Tammy Eret said medical opinion, and the teenagers’ progress in treatment, factored heavily in the delay making arrests.

    “The kids were put into therapy for PTSD,” she said. “We were just waiting to get all the information we could.”

    In charging class-three felony child abuse, the DA’s office argues PTSD can be considered “serious bodily injury” under state law.

    Wilson is charged with sexual assault on child by one in a position of trust; Eret said the charge is rooted in allegations and a belief that Wilson kicked the boy in the groin — as the boy was handcuffed — for the purposes of sexual gratification.

    Reach Paul Shockley at pshockley@gjfreepress.com