Adolfo Gomez was sentenced in Douglas County District Court after pleading no contest in December to two felony counts of child abuse and three misdemeanor counts of child endangerment. Adolfo and his then-wife, Deborah Gomez, 44, were arrested June 13, 2012, after passersby saw the children tied up and called police. Adolfo and Deborah have since divorced...
At previous hearings, Gomez testified that he and his children were fearful of demonic possession and were leaving their home in Illinois because they believed it was haunted. In June, Douglas County District Judge Paula Martin declared Gomez competent to stand trial.
In January, Deborah Gomez was sentenced to one year of probation after pleading no contest to three counts of child endangerment. Her court-appointed attorney, Angela Keck, had said Deborah was an unwilling participant and was made by Adolfo to bind the hands of one of her children. Douglas County prosecutors said the children have been placed in protective custody, but Deborah's plea agreement opened the door to her regaining custody of them in the future...
He said his judgment had been impaired by a lack of sleep. He also described how he and his family had become fearful of supernatural activity at their Illinois home, which they left with the intention of going to Arizona. His court-appointed attorney, James Rumsey, offered evidence that Gomez had a history of mental health problems.
Gomez said Wednesday that other family members first reported seeing phantom shadows and spirits at their home in Illinois and that he did not initially believe them. "I mean, it just sounds kind of crazy," he said.
Soon, Gomez said, he also began to hear disembodied voices around the house. Over time, he said, "They were getting bolder. And then I started to get concerned.".
Gomez said their problems followed them as far as Kansas. After nine days without sleep, he began to believe that some of his children had been possessed by demons.