No jail for couple whose neglect almost killed severely disabled teen

Reading this made me furious and broke my heart.

A North Bend couple who let a severely disabled teen starve as her teeth rotted away likely won’t be serving any jail time.

Paid by the state to care for the blind, cerebral palsy-striken young woman, April and Jeffrey Henderson faced felony charges after she was pulled from their home two years ago. Naked except for a diaper, the young woman was caked in her own filth and weighed only 67 pounds.

I think it unconscionable that these scumbags are going to be allowed to serve their time being monitored at home. Also that they are still allowed to keep their children. Also that the expected jail time would have been only 9 months.

This girl was starved, clearly suffering, had her teeth rotting out, was found wearing only a diaper and caked in her own feces and vomit.

The defense asked that both be cut a break – no jail, just probation.

King County Superior Court Judge Carol Schapira split the difference Friday, sentencing both Hendersons to nine-months on electronic home detention. Doing so, she spared both any jail time unless they violate the conditions of their release.

So committing what I personally equate to torture and the defense asks for probation? These people didn't go to jail? They got to keep other children? I'm appalled.

“The conditions in which (she) was found are not conditions which could occur overnight, or even within a week or two,” Froh told the court. “It was a state that was the result of weeks and months … of extreme long-term neglect – of the Hendersons treating (her) like she was less than a human being who deserved to be cared for in a humane way.”

Neither Henderson was employed – April Henderson hasn’t worked since the girl came to live with them. They and their four children had been subsisting entirely on the payments made for the teen’s care.

Freaking disturbing. It sounds like they saw her as a meal ticket.

The claim is that she was well cared for until the husband's brother was shot (while robbing a home under the influence of alcohol and coc aine) and ballooned up from 400lbs. to 500 from depression. My guess is they gave her the very basic amount of care to keep her alive and passing inspections (as in cleaning her up if they knew someone was coming their way) and the rest of the time just gave her enough care to keep her alive. I don't care what the excuses are.

The defense attorneys claimed their clients provided a “caring home” for the young woman for years. They viewed her as a member of the family, he said, and treated her well until early 2012; in April of that year, a doctor described her as “well-nourished and well-cared for.”

IDGAF what they did right before. Again, I have a feeling that they were good pretenders when it came time for the girl to be looked at. The fact that she was non verbal and suffering from all of her teeth rotting out (which doesn't happen overnight) and that wasn't caught suggests to me that the Dr. was rubber stamping.

Due to her condition, she was forced to suffer in silence. Froh said the young woman did the only thing she could to get help – hurt herself. She’d been doing so for years.

Heartbreaking.

The teen was removed from the home, as were the Hendersons’ children. The Hendersons later agreed the young woman should be placed in a care facility paid for with the money that had been supporting them.

WTF. Oh good, they agreed. Upstanding people they clearly are.

So essentially a couple neglects a disabled child to the point that she would have most likely died without intervention, treated her as subhuman, and then the court treated her as subhuman by barely punishing her abusers.

Really not happy this judge is in my county.

link

The North Bend couple lived on the $4,100 or so per month in government benefits meant to provide for the young woman, who was orphaned and ultimately left in the Hendersons’ care at age 7.

$4,100 a month and they couldn't feed her correctly or get her to a dentist? My family of 3 existed off of less than this for years!!!

“The only way to describe her moaning was that of a wounded animal,” the detective said in charging papers.

I have no words at all for this right here... Just none. The anger is just overwhelming.

Questioned at the home, April Henderson explained investigators had caught them on a “bad day” while her husband allowed that it was more of a “bad week.”

How is it that these people are never shot or tazed "by accident"??

Due to her condition, she was forced to suffer in silence. Froh said the young woman did the only thing she could to get help – hurt herself. She’d been doing so for years.

She “is nonverbal and so was unable to directly express the pain that she was feeling,” the prosecutor told the court. “However, she did her best to communicate that information to her caregivers by engaging in self-injurious behaviors, such as clawing at her face and hair, pulling out her hair, and biting at her arms.”

Again...nothing but anger. I can not fathom what it would be like to be in this kind of situation and not be able to verbalize what was going on. They should get more time based on this fact alone. They took advantage of the fact that she could not ask for help.

Following her rescue, the young woman gained more than 30 pounds. She received 19 root canals; four of her teeth were pulled.

A pediatric dentist told investigators the teen was doubtless in pain for several years as her teeth rotted away. Several were entirely destroyed.

Yep... 9 months sounds like justice...

“(She) lived in the worst conditions I have experienced in 16 years of law enforcement,” Paredes-Garrett continued, noting that the room and the young woman’s wheelchair were “covered in filth.”

How in the hell did these people get off with 9 months of house arrest with all of those professionals coming forward saying this is THE WORST case they have ever seen? It doesn't make sense.

I also can not believe that they were allowed to keep their own children after this. They are not fit to care for vipers IMO, let alone a child.

Somebody or lots of somebody's need to lose their job for this miscarriage of justice. I don't care if the neglect was only for a few months, it happened and here they are being able to sit at home just like they've been doing for how long??

Absolutely appalling and disgusting.

wow that is just disturbing...disgusting ..putrid behavior....that poor little girl....

9 months house arrest what a f-ing joke.....people get locked up for having a bit of weed and these lowlife abusers of children...handicapped children at that get this pathetic punishment......

how can anyone have respect for the law and its ethics if this is the result...what a disgrace

Ugh...I have no words.
This looks like a job for torches and pitchforks.

Lock them up and throw away the key. Disabled people get stepped on all the time in this society and I thank the legal system for lacing up their boots and stomping on this teen.

a reply to: Domo1

I am all for this ruling .. if the death penalty comes at the end of it.

I myself have a disabled little sister and this REALLY gets me mad. I hate to say it, but if I ever meet these Henderson's...so help me god. Hate scumbags like these people...

a reply to: Versus

I'm technically disabled but not severely. This hits right at home with me. Why they got away with this I'll never know but it's a total injustice.

a reply to: Domo1

This is despicable!!

Hopefully they'll get theirs when their time is due!!

What a screwed up system we have, to fail this poor girl like it has....shameful

a reply to: snarky412

Reminds me of the time I saw a man with no hands (just scarred ends a few inches below his elbows) begging in the subway. Billions upon billions of dollars are collected then spent and people who truly need it still have to resort to that.

Frightening.

originally posted by: Yeahkeepwatchingme
a reply to: snarky412

Reminds me of the time I saw a man with no hands (just scarred ends a few inches below his elbows) begging in the subway. Billions upon billions of dollars are collected then spent and people who truly need it still have to resort to that.

Frightening.

Truly....very frightening!!
Sad too

I hope that girl finds a family who loves her, treats her like a princess for the rest of her life.

I hope she can find comfort and happiness.

a reply to: Shaded27

You and me both.

a reply to: Domo1

With this report and other reports like it such a police brutality, miss use of authority, we have to consider the possibility that not punishing or way under punishing some particular offenses, that the government is actively and deliberately encouraging them.

Rewards and punishments have used since time immemorial to reward or discourage a desired behavior.

I have detected from reading this site and others that the US government does not want old people on pensions and others on various kinds of payments, to live very long. So it stands to reason that termination of a life which is financially expensive to the government, would be very subtly encouraged. From their perspective the justice system may well have a role to play.

A quiet weapon for a silent war if you like.

They need to drill about 10 teeth on both of the Henderson's and leave them open to rot for a year.

A year with ten infected teeth and no pain meds would teach them something.

a reply to: Domo1

WTF? How does 'probation' even apply in this case? It's not like there's gonna be another handicapped kid coming their way again. 'If you torture and neglect another person in the next few months, you're in BIG trouble.'

People with Cerebral Palsy are already treated like they can't think for themselves. As if there's 'nobody home' when they're as intelligent and thoughtful as anyone else. People can be so cruel.

I'm not advocating sticking these two in diapers and letting them starve for a few days/weeks whilst they sit in their own excrement. That'd be cruel, huh? Neither would I suggest that they serve time as they clearly have no empathy and the world won't miss them. At the very least, they should serve the paltry probation working for free in a hospice or clinic. Maybe they won't learn about human compassion, but it'd show them how to take care of people.

I read tfa all the way to the last word in expectation of a happy ending. How much compensation? Was she placed somewhere where she'll have company, education and natural care? Will she be looked after?? No idea, no comments! Chances are she's washed back into the care system like none of this happened.

a reply to: Domo1

As someone who has spent years caring for kids like this I have to say it breaks my heart but sadly doesn't surprise me. This case is on the extreme end, but over the years I dealt with A LOT of people who were only in it for the monthly check. Almost every disabled person is abused in some way if they're in the system. The crap I've seen can't be unseen and I know some of it will haunt me for the rest of my life. Hell is on earth... And it's perpetrated by people. I just can't even anymore...

a reply to: learnatic

I agree with everyone above saying this is just inhuman and these people need to be shot. I also agree with learnatic as to why this happened.

The elderly and disabled (which is a lot of us here at ATS) are just "useless eaters" to be gotten rid of soon. These people weren't sent to jail because they will probably be hired to "take care of" the "useless eaters" in whatever facility or camp we get sent to if we survive the initial/eventual purge of "death panels" instituted in the PPACA when any of us get sick enough to need serious medical care.

"So sorry your care is going is going to cost $X and then X$ more for after care and long term/permanent support and it is not financially responsible since you cannot contribute to society in a meaningful way, so you will be placed in Hospice and allowed to die comfortably(hopefully) or you have the option of euthanasia now."

Yeah the world is a great place, /sigh

Lil (who still has no insurance and will never sign up for that crap)

a reply to: Kandinsky

She's going to be placed in what I assume is a group home type setting where she will get the care she needs. She's already had her teeth fixed. The $4,000 + a month these two were getting from the government will go to her care.

Still incredibly sad. Wish she had a kind and loving foster family instead.

WOOOOWWWW!
These people are not being punished harshly enough. This is a revolting situation. They need to be placed in a controlled locked up jail like house and treated the exact same as that poor girl. Let them rot in their own filth, Not enjoy the luxuries of being away to sit in their own home knowing they got off that easy. People like the Hendersons are a disgrace to the compassion of humanity. To humanity in general. I consider them both complete scum, and they deserve everything that comes along with the definition of that word.
a reply to: Domo1