Custodial dad pleads guilty to starving 14-year-old daughter; she weighed less than 50 pounds (Carnation, Washington)

According to the grandfather (quoted in the article from October 2008), dad JON E. POMEROY stripped the mother of custody of the two kids around 10 years ago, and she and the grandfather had lost all contact with them after Dad moved the kids from Utah to Washington State. Sometime along the line, Dad married psycho stepmom. Both of them were apparently involved in starving the daughter and restricting her fluids to less than a dixie cup of water a day. There was other torture-type abuse as well. The dad and stepmom were investigated by CPS in 2005, but they totally dropped the ball. The children were not removed from the home until last fall.

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/409713_starvation31.html

Monday, August 31, 2009
Last updated 9:54 a.m. PT

Father pleads guilty to starving teen girl; stepmother still accused
By LEVI PULKKINEN SEATTLEPI.COM STAFF

A Carnation father accused of starving his 14-year-old daughter pleaded guilty Monday morning as prosecutors continue to press charges against the girl's stepmother.

Prosecutors filed charges Oct. 13 against the girl's father, Jon E. Pomeroy, and stepmother, Rebecca A. Long, nearly two months after the girl was removed from the home by the state Department of Social and Health Services.

Sheriff's deputies arrived at the Carnation home the evening of Aug. 13, 2008, after neighbors reported hearing a girl screaming. In court documents, the deputy sheriff who interviewed the 14- year-old described her as "extremely skinny and pale" and found she weighed only 48 pounds.

Their daughter told police she was allowed only about 6 ounces of water each day and was monitored by Long when she bathed to keep her from "sneaking" extra water. Pomeroy, she told police, was aware that she was being starved but did nothing to stop it.

Initially facing two counts of criminal mistreatment, Pomeroy pleaded guilty to one count of criminal mistreatment first degree. Long still faces charges.

In statements to police, Long allegedly said she used the water restriction to punish her stepdaughter. The couple's young son showed no signs of mistreatment.

Doctors evaluating the girl found nearly all of her teeth were either eroded or chipped, according to court documents. She was "extremely malnourished," the doctors said, and hadn't gained any weight since she was 9 years old.

Both Long and Pomeroy had previously been released from the King County Jail after each posted $20,000 bond.

And more information on this case from last year:

http://www.seattlepi.com/local/383056_abuse14.html

Tuesday, October 14, 2008

Last updated 10:18 a.m. PT
Karen Ducey / P-I

Parents are accused of starving girl for years
'It's the worst case this detective has ever seen'

By SCOTT GUTIERREZ AND RUTH TEICHROEBP-I REPORTERS

In what sheriff's investigators say is the worst case of child abuse they have ever seen, a Carnation woman allegedly kept food and water from her stepdaughter for years, leaving the 14- year-old girl malnourished, dehydrated and weighing less than 50 pounds when she was discovered.

· Read the charging documents (PDF, 586k)

On Monday, Rebecca A. Long, 44, and her husband, Jon E. Pomeroy, 43, were charged in King County Superior Court with first- and second-degree criminal mistreatment, both felonies. If convicted, they face three to four years in prison, said Prosecutor's Office spokesman Dan Donohoe.

Long and Pomeroy were arrested Friday after a two-month investigation that began when a neighbor called Child Protective Services to report screaming from the couple's Carnation home. They were booked into the King County Jail and were being held on warrants issued Monday, with bail set at $20,000.

A deputy noted that the girl looked pale, emaciated and half her age.

The girl told police that her stepmother disciplined her for behavioral problems by restricting her water intake, giving her half a Dixie cup of water each day. Long allegedly monitored the girl's showers and wouldn't let her brush her teeth so she couldn't sneak drinks. She fed her a diet mostly of toast, court documents say.

"It's the worst case this detective has ever seen, and he's been in the Special Assault Unit for 16 years," Sheriff's Sgt. John Urquhart said.

One state official questioned whether child welfare workers prematurely ended an investigation in 2005 when a Carnation teacher reported concerns about the girl to Child Protective Services.
During that investigation, caseworkers found evidence of neglect, including that Long was locking the girl in her room for extended periods of time, court documents say.

The couple's children were not removed from the home, and instead, the agency tried to correct the behavior and monitored the family until it was satisfied a month later that the girl's living conditions were safe, said Thomas Shapley, a Department of Social and Health Services spokesman.

"Making a finding like that is pretty significant," said Mary Meinig, director of the state Office for the Family and Children's Ombudsman. "Do we close cases before we know that the changes will be enough? It really begs that question."

Authorities were called again Aug. 13. This time, both children were placed into foster care, where they are now doing well, according to authorities. When police served a search warrant Aug. 22, they found a double-key deadbolt on the girl's bedroom door, court documents say.
The girl and her brother, 12, were forced to sleep on their parents' floor so she wouldn't sneak out to drink water, and the parents even blocked the door with a heavy dresser after the girl was caught sipping water from the toilet, the Sheriff's Office reported.

"She was afraid her mother would hear the faucet running," Urquhart said.

In one instance, the stepmother duct-taped the girl's hands behind her back and dunked her head in the toilet as punishment, the Sheriff's Office said.

The girl spent two weeks at Seattle Children's for severe malnutrition. Six of her teeth were extracted, and others were capped because of dental erosion caused by failing salivary glands. Her teeth were chipped, eroded or loose, and one was infected, court documents say.

She hadn't gained weight since she was 9, and she told police that feelings of hopelessness had her thinking about suicide. Since entering foster care, she has gained 20 pounds, although she experiences stomach discomfort because she isn't used to eating, court documents say.

The Sheriff's Office seized evidence showing that her family neglected to get her medical care, despite having health insurance. The family's two dogs, on the other hand, were in good health and had recently been taken to the vet. The girl's brother also visited a doctor within the past few years, according to court records.

Long does not work outside the home. Pomeroy is a software engineer with Estorian Inc. in Bellevue, court documents say.

No one answered the door Monday at the couple's two-story home at 31218 N.E. 114th Court, located in a wooded cul-de-sac near Lake Marcel. Paint peeled from the exterior and a sign on the door read, "A spoiled dog lives here."

A neighbor a few houses down said he'd seen the boy playing in the yard but had never seen the girl. He recalled the couple's dogs, which he thought were golden retrievers.

"I've lived here 2 1/2 years, and I didn't know they had a daughter. Not a clue," said a neighbor who would only give his first name, Jordan.

The children's grandfather, Robert Stokes, of Albuquerque, N.M., said he learned of the case from a voice message that Child Protective Services left for him Friday. He said he only knew what he'd read in the news about the allegations.

Stokes said he hasn't seen or heard from the children in 10 years, since Pomeroy, his former son-in-law, divorced his daughter and took custody of the two children and moved to Washington. Stokes said he'd sent gifts and letters that were never acknowledged and that his daughter didn't know the children's whereabouts.

"They kind of kicked us out of the picture," he said.

His daughter married Pomeroy in the mid-1990s, and the couple lived in Orem, Utah. Pomeroy moved from Utah after either losing or leaving his job at Novell Inc., a Utah software firm, Stokes said.

"He was kind of an odd duck. He was quiet and reclusive," Stokes said.

The Pomeroy children were first enrolled in the 3,100-student Riverview School District in Carnation on March 29, 2001. They attended Stillwater Elementary School as regular students until April 18, 2004, when their parents withdrew them, indicating they planned to homeschool the girl and her brother, district Superintendent Conrad Robertson said.

In September 2004, the girl was enrolled in an alternative program for homeschooled students, where she attended classes one day a week. After a teacher called CPS and the police to report concerns March 4, 2005, the girl stopped attending the program, Robertson said.

A school official contacted the parents about two weeks later and was told that the girl was being withdrawn from the program, he said.

"Once they go to homeschooling, we have no more contact," Robertson said. "They could have moved away."

Parents who homeschool their children are required by state law to file a form once a year with their local school district, said Nathan Olson, spokesman for the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction. During the 2007-08 school year, 19,923 students were homeschooled in the state.

"It's safe to say that they were not adhering to state law," Olson said, referring to the parents in the Carnation case. The parents had no contact with their district after March 2005.

A school district has no responsibility to follow up once a parent decides to homeschool children, he said.

"Some people homeschool because they want to be off the radar," Olson said. "The school district is no longer a part of it."

Pulling children from the home isn't automatic in neglect cases, depending on the circumstances and what child welfare workers find, said Shapley, the DSHS spokesman.

In general, caseworkers first try to provide the family with services, such as vouchers, or counseling to correct the behavior and render the environment safe for the child, he said.
DSHS received no other referrals on the family until the complaint in August, he said.

More training is needed so that police and child protection workers know how to better assess the signs of starvation, said Meinig, of the ombudsman's office.

"We have had a number of cases like that where it's been missed," Meinig said. "They might look in the house and there's food. That has nothing to do with it. It's a bizarre form of maltreatment."

In December, an Everett couple were convicted of first-degree criminal mistreatment in Snohomish County Superior Court for starving the man's 4-year-old son, Shayne Abegg, until he weighed only 22 pounds. A review by Children's Administration, part of DSHS, found that social workers missed a pattern of abuse and neglect, including starving the boy as a form of discipline.
In an interview Aug. 15, Long admitted to disciplining the girl, who she thought misbehaved because of a "power struggle" between them, court documents said. Pomeroy told officers the conflict was troubling, "but he thought they could just handle it themselves."

Long has homeschooled the children for four years. The couple said they had no religious objections to the girl's seeing a doctor, court documents said.

The couple's arraignment is scheduled for Oct. 27.