Torture cases advance for pair accused of feeding kids dog food

WYOMING, Mich. (WOOD) — Nearly eight months after a Wyoming couple were charged with torture and child abuse, a judge on Wednesday ruled there is enough evidence to move their criminal cases forward.

The couple routinely beat their three adopted children, forcing them to eat dog food, sleep in the garage and run miles daily as punishment, court documents show.

Attorneys for the pair, Kris Kathryn Jones, 58, and Alan Jeffrey Jones, 57, fought the criminal charges and maintained their clients’ innocence.

In a seven-page opinion, Wyoming District Court Judge Pablo Cortes said there was sufficient evidence to move the cases to Kent County Circuit Court.

The pair were arraigned in February on three counts of torture and three counts of first-degree child abuse. Both felonies are punishable by up to life in prison.

The abuse is alleged to have spanned 10 years, a Wyoming police officer wrote in court documents.

Kent County Prosecutor Chris Becker said the criminal investigation began when Children’s Protective Services and Wyoming police learned of the allegations; a police report complaint number is dated 2023.

Allegations include withholding food, forcing the kids to eat birdseed and dog food, along with the placement of “booby-traps” and cameras to prevent access to food and water and forced exercise.

The three children also reported being locked out of the home, being given squares of toilet paper when the bathroom was used and having the water turned on and off during showers.

Each of the three alleged victims, the court noted, “described behavior which grew worse and worse over the course of several years.”

Defense attorneys noted that the law gives parents wide berth in disciplining their kids as long as certain lines aren’t crossed.

“Sending an unruly or disrespectful child to bed without supper … would most likely not rise to the level of abuse or torture using just about anyone’s metric of allowable parental discipline,” Cortes wrote.

“On the other hand, systematic deprivation of food, the forced feedings, the withholding of food unless certain tasks are completed by a certain deadline and the forced consumption of irregular foods over a period of years, certainly might,” wrote Cortes.

Forcing a child as young as six to run multiple miles to the point that they vomit “could very well be seen as excessive parental discipline, rising to the level of abuse,” Cortes wrote.

Attorneys for the parents noted that the three children were successful in school, participated in sports and extracurricular activities and played musical instruments.

“Clearly then, there are many questions of fact that need to be resolved,” Cortes wrote.

Those questions include whether the alleged conduct occurred, whether the conduct constitutes torture/child abuse and what conduct can be attributed to which defendant, the judge wrote.

“Each of these questions are questions that only a trier of fact can ultimately decide,” Cortes wrote. “Accordingly, both defendants are hereby bound over for further proceedings on the charges listed in the complaint.”

The couple were released on bond in March.

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