I have also attached an article from 2009 that explains in a little more detail just what these animals did to this child...and how DSHS basically ignored the complaints of neighbors and teachers.
Also see a 2007 article where officials try to blame the mother, WHO DID NOT HAVE CUSTODY, for the boy's emaciated condition. This is called @$$ covering, and practically defies credibility. Mom is to blame for starving the boy? Even when the condition apparently developed and/or worsened with a change of custody to the father? The daddy who managed to simultaneously blame mom while admitting that he withheld food from the child for "punishment"--or at least that he had locked up food because it was "too expensive" to feed the child? A daddy who left the child soaked in urine and covered with bruises and infected sores? (Was the non-custodial Mom responsible for that too?) Daddy even tries to put up the boy for adoption--after he successfully robs him of his mother! This is a typical move on the part of abuser daddies. They don't really want responsibility for a child, see. They just want to make sure they hurt the mother by taking her child away from her.
Frankly, I suspect the daddy was lying his @$$ off, and as usual, the authorities automatically labeled the mother the abuser/liar while excusing and catering to the father--even as the evidence of abuse accelerated when the child entered the father's home. I've seen many cases like this before, where Mom is accused of abuse/neglect, only to have the abuse really start once custody is changed to the father. And yet those in authority refuse to acknowlege their "mistake" despite all the evidence to the contrary. At least not till somebody is dead or permanently injured.
http://www.seattlepi.com/local/6420ap_wa_starving_boy_settlement.html?source=mypi
Last updated January 7, 2011 9:14 p.m. PT
Wash. to pay $2.85M in abused child case
THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
EVERETT, Wash. -- A lawyer says the Washington state Department of Social and Health Services has agreed to pay $2.85 million to a boy whose brother was at the center of a dramatic Snohomish County child abuse case.
Lawyer David Moody says the companion case was settled Friday. A Snohomish County lawsuit involving Joey Abegg was set to go to trial Monday.
A DSHS spokesman did not immediately return a call for comment Friday night.
Moody says despite many warnings of neglect, abuse and malnourishment, the state failed to protect Joey Abegg between the ages of 3 and 7.
A lawsuit over the near-fatal starving of Joey's younger brother Shayne Abegg was earlier settled for $6 million. Cynthia Gibson of Moody's firm says the state paid $5 million while other defendants paid the remainder.
Shayne's father, Danny Abegg, and Abegg's live-in girlfriend, Marilea Mitchell, were convicted of criminal mistreatment and sentenced to eight years in prison in his case.
http://www.komonews.com/news/41770812.html
Starved boy gets multi-million settlement from DSHS
By KOMO Staff
The agency agreed to pay 6-year-old Shayne Abegg $5 million to settle a claim alleging that DSHS failed to protect him despite repeated warnings of neglect. Shayne was found two years ago at his father's apartment soaked in urine, covered in bruises, and weighing just 25 pounds.
Story Published: Mar 24, 2009 at 12:32 PM PST
Story Updated: Mar 24, 2009 at 5:51 PM PST
SEATTLE -- Lawyers for a boy who was starved and severely malnourished have reached a $6 million settlement with the state Department of Social, Health and Human Services and two other defendants.
Shayne Abegg, now 6-years-old, was found two years ago at his father's Lynnwood apartment soaked in urine, covered in bruises, infected sores, and weighing just 25 pounds.
Snohomish County Superior Court Judge Thomas Wynne said during the trial of Shayne's father and stepmother that he had not seen anyone in such an emaciated condition since he visited a concentration camp.
DSHS's share of the settlement is $5 million -- the largest amount the agency has ever paid to a single victim, said David Moody, Shayne's attorney.
In announcing the settlement Tuesday, Moody said the agency still doesn't seem to learn.
"They continue to be a reactive agency," he said. "In this case, they paid significant money not to face a jury. That was a wise decision but an even wiser decision would be to respond to warnings appropriately when warnings are received so these type of tragedies do not occur."
Moody says he felt they could have won more in court, but the settlement is plenty to take care of Shayne for the rest of his life.
Steve Williams, a spokesman for DSHS, says they are pleased to provide some resources to help him, and they agree the settlement will fairly compensate Shayne with his future needs.
When the original suit was filed, Moody claimed DSHS was warned multiple times by a neighbor that Shayne was being starved and abused by his father and stepmother, and that at least half of the reports were not documented by DSHS.
The suit also claimed Shayne's teachers reported to the agency that severe neglect was occurring at the home and there were several reports about bruising on Shayne's body, but that DSHS did not take any meaningful steps to investigate.
Shayne's father Danny Abegg, 27, and stepmother Marilea Mitchell, 22, were convicted in December, 2007 of first-degree criminal mistreatment and sentenced to 8 years in prison.
Moody says Shayne has some permanent health challenges due to being starved for 14 months.
"Because of the lack of protein to his brain, he suffered some profound cognitive defects, that the doctors estimate he will have and struggle with for the rest of his life," Moody said.
The settlement money will be locked up in a trust and managed by the court. Moody says Shayne and his brother now live in a foster home.
http://www.komonews.com/news/12623116.html
Trial begins for couple accused of starving 4-year-old boy
Share By KOMO Staff
27-year-old Danny Abegg and his girlfriend, 22-year-old Marilea Mitchell could face up to 10 years in prison if convicted of first-degree criminal mistreatment.
Story Published: Dec 18, 2007 at 11:32 PM PST
Story Updated: Jun 14, 2010 at 11:30 AM PST
Starved toddler's father, his girlfriend charged
EVERETT -- A Snohomish County judge is hearing arguments in a case that left a then 4-year-old Everett boy starving.
27-year-old Danny Abegg and his girlfriend, 22-year-old Marilea Mitchell are charged with first-degree criminal mistreatment. Prosecutors allege the couple did not feed the boy.
Court documents state the couple deliberately withheld food as a way to punish 4-year-old Shayne Abegg.
Shayne Abegg was just 25 pounds when Snohomish County sheriff's deputy Rob Pilgrim examined him in March.
"The father tried to put him on his feet but he was just shaking," Pilgrim said. "Didn't look like he could do it."
Pilgrim says Shayne told him he had only eaten "popcorn and water." His frail condition led Child Protective Services to take custody of him.
But deputy prosecutor Mark Roe argues the red flags came long before that visit.
"The boys have a severe fear of lack of food," said Detective Christopher Ferreira.
Ferreira says Shayne's biological mother starved the boy when he lived with her. That experience taught him to horde food. Ferreira says father Danny Abegg knew that, but locked up Shayne's food anyway because he worried feeding him would be too expensive.
Marilee Mitchell's mother Tammi says family members noticed Shayne's weight loss, but didn't think twice.
Shayne became aggressive towards her sister, lied, and wet his bed often. But Mitchell didn't follow up because her medical insurance didn't cover Shayne's costs.
"She could not take Shayne," Tammi Mitchell said of Marilee. "It had to be the father."
Danny Abegg was the one who had to take him.
Public defender Marybeth Dingledy says Danny Abegg tried to put Shayne up for adoption one month before CPS took him away. He knew he couldn't afford to care for him anymore, Dingledy said, adding Danny Abegg's statement to detectives proves he never meant any harm.
"I didn't know it was that bad," his statement read. "I thought he was just skinny."
The trial is expected to wrap up Wednesday. If convicted, both Marilee Mitchell and Danny Abegg face up to 10 years in prison.
