LilMtnCbn
06-30-2004, 06:18 AM
My goodness. Wonder how they flew under the radar for so long.
http://miva.jacksonsun.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?NEWS/news_story.mv+link=20040
6306268646
Police ponder more child abuse charges
By TONYA SMITH-KING
tsmith-king@jacksonsun.com
06/30 2004
Gibson Co. couple arraigned as investigators keep digging
TRENTON - A couple who had 18 children taken from their home last week over
child abuse and neglect charges, as well as related allegations, maintained
their innocence Tuesday as the FBI prepared to comb through computers
confiscated from their home in search of evidence that could lead to other
charges.
Thomas and Debra Schmitz were arraigned Tuesday in Gibson County General
Sessions Court. Debra, 44, is charged with three counts of aggravated child
abuse and one count of child abuse and neglect. Tom, 45, is charged with one
count of aggravated child abuse and one count of child abuse and neglect. Both
are out on bond.
Judge James Webb set a preliminary hearing for 1 p.m. Aug. 17.
The charges stem from several incidents involving two 14-year-old girls, Gibson
County Sheriff Joe Shepard said Tuesday. The charges include allegations that
Debra Schmitz threw a knife at one girl, striking her in the shoulder, and that
both Schmitzes held down the other girl in the bathroom and lanced a boil
beneath her arm with a rusty box cutter.
The search warrant contains a number of other allegations the Schmitzes have
not been charged with, based on observations of two nurses in the home. It
contains allegations of children being locked for hours at a time in a storm
cellar, one child being beaten with a steel wire brush and that the Schmitzes
had records of ''swapped, traded and interchanged children in the home'' on
their home computers.
''That's what I'm trying to figure out right now,'' Shepard said of the
Internet-related allegation. ''That's what I'm really looking into.''
He was expecting experts from the FBI to start work Tuesday combing through
computers obtained through the search warrant. Shepard expects other charges to
be filed.
One nurse said Debra Schmitz introduced her to an Internet group specializing
in children from disrupted adoptions and told the nurse ''that she (Debra
Schmitz) could get a child through the Web site within three weeks and would
not have to go through the Department of Children's Services,'' the search
warrant said.
The Department of Children's Services removed 18 children, ranging in age from
1 to 17, from the home outside Trenton on June 21. Some children have special
needs.
Seven or eight children have made statements that they were abused, Shepard
said. Some of their statements correspond with the nurses', and police found
items described by the nurses during their search of the home, Shepard said.
An 18-year-old and a 14-year-old who had lived at the home are the Schmitzes'
biological children, the search warrant said. Ten others were adopted. The rest
were respite children not under DCS's ''sanction or supervision,'' according to
the search warrant.
The couple formerly lived in Howard, Wis.
The Schmitzes are being represented by separate attorneys, both of whom said
they were retained Monday.
''My client is saying she is not guilty,'' Debra Schmitz's attorney, C. Michael
Robbins of Memphis, said following the arraignment. ''My client is saying she
wants the children back.''
Tom Schmitz is represented by Frank Deslauriers of Covington.
''He's obviously denying the charges,'' Deslauriers said.
Those attending court with the couple Tuesday included Tom's parents and the
Schmitzes' son, Deslauriers said.
The Schmitzes were due in Gibson County Juvenile Court at 1 p.m. Tuesday on a
separate ''dependent neglect action,'' Robbins said.
A protective custody order prevents the Schmitzes from having any contact with
the children, Juvenile Court Clerk Lee Hayes said. Judge Robert Newell ruled
Tuesday that the order would remain, Hayes added. A full hearing is scheduled
for July 27.
Robbins requested a General Sessions hearing on his belief that on three of
Debra Schmitz's charges the affidavit in support of a warrant is ''insufficient
to state an offense.''
He explained after court that the warrants ''must recite language that amounts
to that offense.'' He added a fourth charge alleging Debra Schmitz threw the
knife and struck a 14-year-old girl in her shoulder ''is marginal, it's
close.''
Judge Webb said he'd take that matter up on Aug. 17.
Two other incidents the Schmitzes are charged with allege Debra Schmitz
attacked a 14-year-old girl with scissors and cut off all her hair and told a
14-year-old girl to ''dig her own grave.'' Tom Schmitz is charged in the latter
incident because he allegedly had knowledge of his wife saying this, according
to the arrest warrant.
The arrest warrants indicate the Schmitzes are charged only with telling the
girl to dig a grave. But one nurse ''personally knows'' children were forced to
dig their own graves and were told by the couple ''they could be killed and
buried in the backyard and no one will care,'' the search warrant said.
One allegation in the search warrant not mentioned in a recent article in The
Jackson Sun said a nurse observed a 14-year-old girl forced to pull weeds in a
garden outside the home until 1 a.m. with no light. The girl was covered in
mosquito bites, the search warrant said.
The nurse also reported seeing Debra Schmitz yell at the same girl, slap her
and slam her head into the kitchen counter in an effort to get the girl ''to
admit to something she did not do,'' the search warrant said.
Debra Schmitz grabbed the girl by her long hair and started cutting ''large
chunks out of her hair each time she denied doing what she was accused of
doing,'' the search warrant said. The girl's hair was cut off to a length of 1
to 3 inches. Debra Schmitz then took the girl's glasses ''so she could not
see'' and began throwing the cut hair at her, ''calling her a slut,'' and
telling her she was ''no good,'' that ''no one wants you'' and that ''I could
kill you, and no one would care,'' the search warrant said.
The nurse said Debra Schmitz told her she was going to home-school the girl
because she was afraid she'd talk, the search warrant said.
When asked about Debra Schmitz's possible bid to regain custody of the
children, Shepard said, ''I pray to God that they don't get them back.''
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
http://miva.jacksonsun.com/miva/cgi-bin/miva?NEWS/news_story.mv+link=20040
6306268646
Police ponder more child abuse charges
By TONYA SMITH-KING
tsmith-king@jacksonsun.com
06/30 2004
Gibson Co. couple arraigned as investigators keep digging
TRENTON - A couple who had 18 children taken from their home last week over
child abuse and neglect charges, as well as related allegations, maintained
their innocence Tuesday as the FBI prepared to comb through computers
confiscated from their home in search of evidence that could lead to other
charges.
Thomas and Debra Schmitz were arraigned Tuesday in Gibson County General
Sessions Court. Debra, 44, is charged with three counts of aggravated child
abuse and one count of child abuse and neglect. Tom, 45, is charged with one
count of aggravated child abuse and one count of child abuse and neglect. Both
are out on bond.
Judge James Webb set a preliminary hearing for 1 p.m. Aug. 17.
The charges stem from several incidents involving two 14-year-old girls, Gibson
County Sheriff Joe Shepard said Tuesday. The charges include allegations that
Debra Schmitz threw a knife at one girl, striking her in the shoulder, and that
both Schmitzes held down the other girl in the bathroom and lanced a boil
beneath her arm with a rusty box cutter.
The search warrant contains a number of other allegations the Schmitzes have
not been charged with, based on observations of two nurses in the home. It
contains allegations of children being locked for hours at a time in a storm
cellar, one child being beaten with a steel wire brush and that the Schmitzes
had records of ''swapped, traded and interchanged children in the home'' on
their home computers.
''That's what I'm trying to figure out right now,'' Shepard said of the
Internet-related allegation. ''That's what I'm really looking into.''
He was expecting experts from the FBI to start work Tuesday combing through
computers obtained through the search warrant. Shepard expects other charges to
be filed.
One nurse said Debra Schmitz introduced her to an Internet group specializing
in children from disrupted adoptions and told the nurse ''that she (Debra
Schmitz) could get a child through the Web site within three weeks and would
not have to go through the Department of Children's Services,'' the search
warrant said.
The Department of Children's Services removed 18 children, ranging in age from
1 to 17, from the home outside Trenton on June 21. Some children have special
needs.
Seven or eight children have made statements that they were abused, Shepard
said. Some of their statements correspond with the nurses', and police found
items described by the nurses during their search of the home, Shepard said.
An 18-year-old and a 14-year-old who had lived at the home are the Schmitzes'
biological children, the search warrant said. Ten others were adopted. The rest
were respite children not under DCS's ''sanction or supervision,'' according to
the search warrant.
The couple formerly lived in Howard, Wis.
The Schmitzes are being represented by separate attorneys, both of whom said
they were retained Monday.
''My client is saying she is not guilty,'' Debra Schmitz's attorney, C. Michael
Robbins of Memphis, said following the arraignment. ''My client is saying she
wants the children back.''
Tom Schmitz is represented by Frank Deslauriers of Covington.
''He's obviously denying the charges,'' Deslauriers said.
Those attending court with the couple Tuesday included Tom's parents and the
Schmitzes' son, Deslauriers said.
The Schmitzes were due in Gibson County Juvenile Court at 1 p.m. Tuesday on a
separate ''dependent neglect action,'' Robbins said.
A protective custody order prevents the Schmitzes from having any contact with
the children, Juvenile Court Clerk Lee Hayes said. Judge Robert Newell ruled
Tuesday that the order would remain, Hayes added. A full hearing is scheduled
for July 27.
Robbins requested a General Sessions hearing on his belief that on three of
Debra Schmitz's charges the affidavit in support of a warrant is ''insufficient
to state an offense.''
He explained after court that the warrants ''must recite language that amounts
to that offense.'' He added a fourth charge alleging Debra Schmitz threw the
knife and struck a 14-year-old girl in her shoulder ''is marginal, it's
close.''
Judge Webb said he'd take that matter up on Aug. 17.
Two other incidents the Schmitzes are charged with allege Debra Schmitz
attacked a 14-year-old girl with scissors and cut off all her hair and told a
14-year-old girl to ''dig her own grave.'' Tom Schmitz is charged in the latter
incident because he allegedly had knowledge of his wife saying this, according
to the arrest warrant.
The arrest warrants indicate the Schmitzes are charged only with telling the
girl to dig a grave. But one nurse ''personally knows'' children were forced to
dig their own graves and were told by the couple ''they could be killed and
buried in the backyard and no one will care,'' the search warrant said.
One allegation in the search warrant not mentioned in a recent article in The
Jackson Sun said a nurse observed a 14-year-old girl forced to pull weeds in a
garden outside the home until 1 a.m. with no light. The girl was covered in
mosquito bites, the search warrant said.
The nurse also reported seeing Debra Schmitz yell at the same girl, slap her
and slam her head into the kitchen counter in an effort to get the girl ''to
admit to something she did not do,'' the search warrant said.
Debra Schmitz grabbed the girl by her long hair and started cutting ''large
chunks out of her hair each time she denied doing what she was accused of
doing,'' the search warrant said. The girl's hair was cut off to a length of 1
to 3 inches. Debra Schmitz then took the girl's glasses ''so she could not
see'' and began throwing the cut hair at her, ''calling her a slut,'' and
telling her she was ''no good,'' that ''no one wants you'' and that ''I could
kill you, and no one would care,'' the search warrant said.
The nurse said Debra Schmitz told her she was going to home-school the girl
because she was afraid she'd talk, the search warrant said.
When asked about Debra Schmitz's possible bid to regain custody of the
children, Shepard said, ''I pray to God that they don't get them back.''
-------------------------
A good friend will come and bail you out of jail . . . but, a true friend will
be sitting next to you saying, "Damn . . . that was fun!"
-----Unknown
