Office of Prosecuting Attorney
August 4, 2005
RE: The People of the State of Michigan v. The Respite Care Providers
We regret that your child has become the unfortunate victim of a crime. Our office has charged the defendants with the following crimes.
CHILD ABUSE - 4th DEGREE
ASSAULT AND BATTERY
The Michigan Crime Victim's Right gives you the right to participate in the processing of this case in the courts.
Office of Prosecuting Attorney
September 1, 2005
RE: People of the State of Michigan v. The Respite Care Providers
This letter is to inform you that at the District Court Pre-Trial that was held on August 29, 2005, the defendants failed to appear, therefore Judge C issued a Bench Warrant for arrest.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact our Victim/Witness Unit.
We received a telephone call from the Sheriff's Department letting us know
that the defendants had been arrested, and were being released on bond.
Office of Proseuting Attorney
November 18. 2005
RE: People of the State of Michigan v. The Respite Care Providers
The above named defendants have been scheduled for District Court Jury Selection and Jury Trial on December 6, 2005, at 8:30 am. You are not required to be present for the selection, but may receive a notice/subpoena from the police agency. The Assistant Prosecuting Attorney feels that it would be helpful if one of you were there.
If you have any questions or concerns, please call the Victim Services Division.
The December 6th Court Date was Rescheduled until January 5, 2006
Merry Christmas to us! : (
Office of Prosecuting Attorney
January 5, 2006
RE: People of the State of Michigan v. The Respite Care Providers
The above named defendants pled to a reduced charge of Assault and Battery. The sentencing has been scheduled for January 19, 2006, at 9:00 AM; Judge C presiding.
As part of your rights, you may make a written or oral impact statement for use in preparation of a presentence investigation report concerning the defendants. A presentence investigation report is used to provide the Judge background regarding the facts of the offense, the impact of the defendant's actions on you and others, information regarding the defendants character and possible sentences. If you wish to give an impact statement to the Probation Officer who is going to prepare the report, you may contact her at any time.
In addition to making an impact statement to the Probation Officer, you have the right to make a statement at the sentencing. If you wish to be present at the sentence to make an oral impact statement, PLEASE CALL our office. We will then notify the Court of your wish.
If you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact us.
Victim's Impact Statement
(Written by TLP's Mother, and read in Court by TLP's Father)
For nine and a half years…we have been fighting to save a child: A child who was the unfortunate victim of abuse throughout the first three and a half years of his life.
For nine and a half years… we’ve always been here for him… for better or worse. We’ve held him through his rages… comforted him through nightmares… and apologized to him for the abuse that was caused by others. Abuse that occurred long before we ever even knew that this child existed.
For nine and a half years… we’ve worked very hard to repair the damage from our son’s earlier years…. and to earn his trust. And throughout all these years… we’ve always told him that he was a good person… and that he never deserved to be hurt.
We’ve always told him that he could trust us to make good decisions for him,
and that we would always be there to help keep him safe.
As parents, we can promise our children the world. Yet… no matter how good our intentions might actually be… no matter how much we truly want to be able to keep our promises to our children… sometimes we just can’t.
We can’t because… no matter how desperately we always want to be able to keep our children safe… there are always going to be SICK PEOPLE like you somewhere out there in this world. People who for whatever reason… seem to think that’s it’s okay to hurt a child.
We all know that it doesn’t take a very BIG person to hurt a child. We all know that only WEAK people hurt children. Because only a VERY WEAK person could ever get any kind of SICK SATISFACTION from humiliating… terrorizing… starving… and abusing a child.
Only a VERY SICK person could do these things to a child…. and laugh about it.
Well, you’re certainly not laughing today… and we honestly don’t know if we hate you…. or feel sorry for you…. for what you’ve done to our child… and to our entire family.
But we DO KNOW that you are both in need of some very serious help.
After nine and a half years of trying to build our son’s trust… because of you… he no longer has any reason to trust us.
Because of YOU… he knows that we don’t always make the right decisions… and that we can’t always keep him safe.
Because of YOU… he’s having even more nightmares… and we are once again apologizing to him for the abuse of others… abuse that YOU’VE caused him
Because of YOU…
we have a lot more work to do… and a lot more damage to repair.
And… because of YOU… our child may never trust us again.
Maybe there wasn’t enough physical evidence for the court to charge you with the felony charges that we feel you deserve… but we want you to know that we know the truth.
We know what you did to our son.
Physical evidence or no physical evidence… we know what you did to him.
We know that you’re VERY weak…. and VERY sick….
and we can only hope that Judge C and the Probation Officer will see to it that you both get the help that you so desperately need… so that nobody else’s child ever has to be hurt again.
Maybe we can’t always be there to protect our children from sick people like you…
but we can certainly teach our children that no matter how small they might be…
they definitely DO have very big voices.
Voices that are strong enough… and loud enough…
to stand up against people who’ve hurt them.
So if you were thinking that our son was weak… or an easy target to abuse…
you were VERY wrong!
Maybe you could overpower him physically… and degrade him… and hurt him…
but even with a low IQ and a severe language disorder…
he managed to tell us… and a lot of other people… exactly what YOU did to him.
He’s a STRONG kid…
and you certainly overestimated your power when you chose to hurt him.
I hope that this court forces you both to seek the help that you so desperately need.
Office of Prosecuting Attorney
January 30, 2006
RE: People of the State of Michigan v. Mrs. Respite Care Provider
On January 26, 2006, the above named defendant was sentenced by Judge C. Terms of the sentence were:
Defendant was sentenced to 1 year probation
No alcohol or drugs; random testing
Must complete the Anger Management or Assessment Class
NO Respite or Behavioral Care without appropriate licensing
Must pay $2,000 in restitution
No Assaultive Behavior and NO CONTACT with TLP's family of any kind
Fines and Costs
Office of Prosecuting Attorney
January 30, 2006
RE: People of the State of Michigan v. The Respite Provider's Son
On January 26, 2006, the above named defendant was sentenced by Judge Conlin. Terms of the sentence were:
Defendant was sentenced to 1 year probation
No alcohol or drugs; random testing
Must complete the Anger Management or Assessment Class
NO Respite or Behavioral Care without appropriate licensing
Must write a Letter of Apology
No Assaultive Behavior and NO CONTACT with TLP's family of any kind
Fines and Costs
Parents,
PLEASE.... PLEASE... be very careful when you are seeking Respite Care for your children. We all know that we NEED respite in order to rest up and be the best parents that we can be... but our children are very fragile and can be easily taken advantage of. Remember, that we are raising children that sometimes tell TALL TALES and unfortunately, there are people in this world that CAN take advantage of them.
AFTER our son was hurt... it was brought to our attention that this was not the first time that a child had accused someone in this respite home of sexual abuse. Unfortunately, sexual abuse is VERY DIFFICULT to prove, and no charges were ever filed. Fortunately, bruises and photographs of bruises DO NOT lie. : (
As you seek respite care.... BEWARE OF THE WOLVES IN SHEEPS CLOTHING. This family came highly recommended by a couple of Attachment Therapists (NOT THE KING) and by other RAD parents.
We cannot undo the damage once it has already been done. All we can do is TRY to make sure that justice is served and try to move on as best we can. Unfortunately, in our case, justice was NOT served. : ( Please.... take the time to personally get to know the Respite Provider's BEFORE you leave your children in their care... no matter how highly recommended they might be. These are our children... and many of them have already been severely hurt. Please try not to give someone the chance to hurt them again. Please KNOW who you are leaving your children with. Please learn from our mistake.
These people hurt our child.... and I hate myself for sending him there.... and not being there to help him and protect him when he needed me. These people were supposed to help us... and they really set us back so much. I don't even know what to do anymore. I don't know how to help him stop hurting. I don't know how to help myself stop hurting.
I HATE them!
God forgive me.... I have never hated anyone so badly in my entire life.
