GUILTY WI - Chad & Melinda Chritton, Joshua Drabek for abuse of 15yo girl, Madison, 2012
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peeples
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Some of you know my situation with C. from my thread in the Jury room.
He also sneaks/steals food.
He's on mood stabilizers/anti psychotic meds and those meds can cause major weight gain and over eating. He's a little chubby.
We offer 3 meals a day as well as 3 snacks a day (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and dessert). He will sneak any treats int he house. We have a ready supply of string cheese, veggie sticks etc. But he doesn't go for those things, he wakes in the middle of the night and will take the high sugar snacks such a little debbie cakes, toaster strudels, poptatrts etc and he doesn't always eat them.. sometimes he just hides them and lets them rot... he says he does it so his brothers can't have any... because he's compelled to dit.. he's been in therapy since age 3...
Some kids just do strange things..
The little girl in the story was being abused and starved.. she had reasons... but not all kids who do this are being mistreated.
He also sneaks/steals food.
He's on mood stabilizers/anti psychotic meds and those meds can cause major weight gain and over eating. He's a little chubby.
We offer 3 meals a day as well as 3 snacks a day (breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner and dessert). He will sneak any treats int he house. We have a ready supply of string cheese, veggie sticks etc. But he doesn't go for those things, he wakes in the middle of the night and will take the high sugar snacks such a little debbie cakes, toaster strudels, poptatrts etc and he doesn't always eat them.. sometimes he just hides them and lets them rot... he says he does it so his brothers can't have any... because he's compelled to dit.. he's been in therapy since age 3...
Some kids just do strange things..
The little girl in the story was being abused and starved.. she had reasons... but not all kids who do this are being mistreated.
Belinda
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I had no idea this problem was so prevalent. Sorry for getting the thread so off-topic, but am really interested in this other side of the food hoarding issue. I just had no idea. Thank you to all who have educated me on this subject. I'm sorry for those of you parents who have to deal with this. I know it must be extremely difficult.
Obviously, the girl in this case is a straight-up starvation case and is very different. It is horrifying what has been done to this poor girl. I hope she can heal and go on to lead a normal life. I hope that is possible for her.
Obviously, the girl in this case is a straight-up starvation case and is very different. It is horrifying what has been done to this poor girl. I hope she can heal and go on to lead a normal life. I hope that is possible for her.
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To answer your question, yes. Of course many children who are NOT denied food, sneak it too. But yes, a child who has a history of going without food DOES hoard food. This is something that is taught when you go to apply for foster care license, or it was in our case. If a child is in care in your home and has not been fed properly in previous home, they tell you to offer the child a box of snacks to keep in his or her room (again, this is ONLY for children who have been starved at home), so they know there will always be food available and they dont have to sneak. Many of them do it because they are used to gobbling food when they get a chance since they dont know when they will be fed again. VERY typical behavior for children who are being starved.
Sadly, even if food was not giving regularly when they were very young, it can still stick with them. My youngest, whom we adopted when he was 5 had only been in his birth home from birth to 18 months. Yet, a year after he was with us, he told me he had a "dream" (memory) that he was a baby and laying in his crib at his birth home and crying and crying because he was hungry, and then his brother finally came in (his brother is only 4 years older), and brought him a cracker. Anyway, to this day, he will try and overeat. We just make sure that he does eat enough, and offer healthy snacks, and keep him active in sports, but yes, he has food issues, even from events that happened as a toddler.
not_my_kids
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It's prevalent in poverty stricken homes, as well. It comes from the knowledge that there is enough to eat for today, but uncertainty about the future. It's called food-insecurity, and parents can actually pass it to their kids by talking about worries about feeding the kids, or things of that nature. Or in food stamp families where the first few days of the month are full of lots of snacks and treats, and then turns to meals only, or less, later in the month when the funds run low.
In our case, we make sure that the kids are all fed the same amount (as close as possible) every day. Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and sometimes a small snack before bed if dinner gets served early. I do sometimes have to lock the cabinets or the fridge, but I try not to, since I worry that might make it worse in the long run. My middle son hoards because when he was little, between 6 months and 2 years, he had incredibly bad allergies to almost everything. he was not allowed most of the things that other kids get, including cake, dairy, candy, even most flavors and dyes. Now that he has outgrown most of the allergies, he seems to think we kept all the good things from him to be mean, so now he hoards them. i think he's afraid of us taking them away again.
My older son hoards because he wants to. Period. it's a behavioral thing. He knows that he can bribe his brother and sister to do his chores or clean his room for him if he has a candy stash to offer them, so it's like currency to him.
They aren't underfed, and having grown up in a household that could only afford two meals a day most of the time, I promised them they would never go hungry, and I meant it. They don't. But they do have food insecurity, passed on by me when they were younger. You think that a 2 year old won't remember that there were days he ate, and Mommy and Daddy didn't, but they remember.
Kids can be deeply impacted by many things, and with mine, simply seeing hunger, even though it didn't touch them personally, that's what happened to mine.
I feel so bad for this girl, because I did grow up in a house where there wasn't enough to go around, but somehow it was made better by the fact that i knew I was loved and that everyone else was suffering along with me. To not be offered that comfort, but instead to know that you are the only one suffering, must have been terrible for her. With holding of food in an abusive way is one of the worst things that a parent can do to a child, in my opinion. I would rather be beaten than starved.
In our case, we make sure that the kids are all fed the same amount (as close as possible) every day. Breakfast, morning snack, lunch, afternoon snack, dinner, and sometimes a small snack before bed if dinner gets served early. I do sometimes have to lock the cabinets or the fridge, but I try not to, since I worry that might make it worse in the long run. My middle son hoards because when he was little, between 6 months and 2 years, he had incredibly bad allergies to almost everything. he was not allowed most of the things that other kids get, including cake, dairy, candy, even most flavors and dyes. Now that he has outgrown most of the allergies, he seems to think we kept all the good things from him to be mean, so now he hoards them. i think he's afraid of us taking them away again.
My older son hoards because he wants to. Period. it's a behavioral thing. He knows that he can bribe his brother and sister to do his chores or clean his room for him if he has a candy stash to offer them, so it's like currency to him.
They aren't underfed, and having grown up in a household that could only afford two meals a day most of the time, I promised them they would never go hungry, and I meant it. They don't. But they do have food insecurity, passed on by me when they were younger. You think that a 2 year old won't remember that there were days he ate, and Mommy and Daddy didn't, but they remember.
Kids can be deeply impacted by many things, and with mine, simply seeing hunger, even though it didn't touch them personally, that's what happened to mine.
I feel so bad for this girl, because I did grow up in a house where there wasn't enough to go around, but somehow it was made better by the fact that i knew I was loved and that everyone else was suffering along with me. To not be offered that comfort, but instead to know that you are the only one suffering, must have been terrible for her. With holding of food in an abusive way is one of the worst things that a parent can do to a child, in my opinion. I would rather be beaten than starved.
Hamsterdance
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STEADFAST-good catch. Their first post is even more horrible (see below). Could you please inform LE before the posts mysteriously disappear?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HopeForADKids/message/3102
Glad that dear girl is away from her living hell now. Hopefully she can heal.
Yeah, I agree. Guess I won't go delving through on-line support groups and hunting down people who say their kids are stealing food! :cop: Guess it's just another way of thinking about the food in the home. I always figured that once it was paid for, it was fair game for anyone in the family, but then again, I didn't have a child who needed to limit calories.
I had a teenage boy who took food without permission all the time, even in the middle of the night, even though we had no limits on the food he ate. Once he ate almost an entire loaf of bread in the back seat before I even got it home from the grocery store. He also often tried to hide the evidence. (Sometimes, I think, teenagers just like to be sneaky for practice.)
I wish we could figure out some red-flag phrases so that we could try to do something for any of those kids out there who are being abused right this minute.
MarthaM
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On WTMJ's noon news, they showed an interview with a girl from the neighborhood where the Chrittons lived. She remembered one day when the girl was outside, running around and around the house. When asked why she was doing that, the girl said that they told her she had to. 
They also showed the Chrittons in court. There's no other way to say this... it doesn't look like food was lacking in that house. The parents appeared to be well-fed.
I looked on WTMJ's site to see if they had this footage there, but couldn't find it right off the bat. President Obama is in Milwaukee today, so that's kind of taken over my local news sites. Perhaps a Madison channel has more info on theirs, so I'll check there. This poor girl's story was also on WGN Radio (Chicago) at the top of the hour, so other areas are picking it up. I can't remember if it was WTMJ or WGN that said that the girl's condition was grave, and that it was possible that she might not make it. Right now, my main hope is that she does recover from this.
They also showed the Chrittons in court. There's no other way to say this... it doesn't look like food was lacking in that house. The parents appeared to be well-fed.
I looked on WTMJ's site to see if they had this footage there, but couldn't find it right off the bat. President Obama is in Milwaukee today, so that's kind of taken over my local news sites. Perhaps a Madison channel has more info on theirs, so I'll check there. This poor girl's story was also on WGN Radio (Chicago) at the top of the hour, so other areas are picking it up. I can't remember if it was WTMJ or WGN that said that the girl's condition was grave, and that it was possible that she might not make it. Right now, my main hope is that she does recover from this.
The owner of the support web site has posted the newspaper article about the Chrittons to inform her members. :clap:
By the way, did you notice the picture of their 18-yr-old son who was also arrested on warrants (or parole violation or something)? Wonder what crimes he's accused of and if they are pertinent to this case in any way. I bet they are.
By the way, did you notice the picture of their 18-yr-old son who was also arrested on warrants (or parole violation or something)? Wonder what crimes he's accused of and if they are pertinent to this case in any way. I bet they are.
MarthaM
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Uh oh.
I looked up the stepbrother on WI's Circuit Court Access site, and the following comes up:State of Wisconsin vs. Joshua P Drabek
Dane County Case Number 2011CF000872
What is RSS?
Filing Date Case Type Case Status
Ascending Date Order
Descending Date Order
05-19-2011 Criminal Open - Case inactive
Defendant Date of Birth Address
10-31-1993 4609 Treichel St, Madison, WI 53718
Branch Id DA Case Number
13 2011DA005098
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charge(s)
Count No. Statute Description Severity Disposition
1 948.02(2) 2nd Degree Sexual Assault of Child Felony C
2 948.40(1) Intent. Contribute/Delinquency Child Misd. A
3 940.225(3m) 4th Degree Sexual Assault Misd. A
4 940.225(3m) 4th Degree Sexual Assault Misd. A
Dane County Case Number 2011CF000872
What is RSS?
Filing Date Case Type Case Status
Ascending Date Order
Descending Date Order
05-19-2011 Criminal Open - Case inactive
Defendant Date of Birth Address
10-31-1993 4609 Treichel St, Madison, WI 53718
Branch Id DA Case Number
13 2011DA005098
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Charge(s)
Count No. Statute Description Severity Disposition
1 948.02(2) 2nd Degree Sexual Assault of Child Felony C
2 948.40(1) Intent. Contribute/Delinquency Child Misd. A
3 940.225(3m) 4th Degree Sexual Assault Misd. A
4 940.225(3m) 4th Degree Sexual Assault Misd. A
Edited to add: These are the conditions, one or more of which he is said to have violated:
Charge Detail
The Defendant was charged with the following offense:
Count No. Statute Cite Description Severity Offense Date Plea
1 948.02(2) 2nd Degree Sexual Assault of Child Felony C 04-25-2011 No Contest on 11-15-2011
The Defendant was charged with the following offense:
Count No. Statute Cite Description Severity Offense Date Plea
2 948.40(1) Intent. Contribute/Delinquency Child Misd. A 04-25-2011 No Contest on 11-15-2011
On 11-15-2011 there was a finding of:
Action Court Official
Guilty Due to No Contest Plea Genovese, Julie
On 11-15-2011 the following was ordered:
Sentence Time Begin Date Notes
Probation, Sent Withheld 3 Years Each ct concur. Ct accepted plea & w/held adjudication on ct 1 pending successful completion of probation on cts 2-4. If defn has no ATRs, completes all terms of probation, then State will recommend ct 1 be dismissed.
Condition Time Notes
Costs $243 to be paid by the defendant to the Clerk of Courts office within 60 days.
Employment / School Obtain GED or high school diploma or equivalency.
Prohibitions Defendant shall not have any contact, direct or indirect, with VKF.
Other Sex offender treatment. Probation review hearings to be set yearly. Any other conditions DOC, Probation/Parole Department may impose.
http://wcca.wicourts.gov/simpleCaseSearch.xsl;jsessionid=21A33A896C284A65504B56872FBC660C.render1The Defendant was charged with the following offense:
Count No. Statute Cite Description Severity Offense Date Plea
1 948.02(2) 2nd Degree Sexual Assault of Child Felony C 04-25-2011 No Contest on 11-15-2011
The Defendant was charged with the following offense:
Count No. Statute Cite Description Severity Offense Date Plea
2 948.40(1) Intent. Contribute/Delinquency Child Misd. A 04-25-2011 No Contest on 11-15-2011
On 11-15-2011 there was a finding of:
Action Court Official
Guilty Due to No Contest Plea Genovese, Julie
On 11-15-2011 the following was ordered:
Sentence Time Begin Date Notes
Probation, Sent Withheld 3 Years Each ct concur. Ct accepted plea & w/held adjudication on ct 1 pending successful completion of probation on cts 2-4. If defn has no ATRs, completes all terms of probation, then State will recommend ct 1 be dismissed.
Condition Time Notes
Costs $243 to be paid by the defendant to the Clerk of Courts office within 60 days.
Employment / School Obtain GED or high school diploma or equivalency.
Prohibitions Defendant shall not have any contact, direct or indirect, with VKF.
Other Sex offender treatment. Probation review hearings to be set yearly. Any other conditions DOC, Probation/Parole Department may impose.
Reader
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Police: Malnourished Wis. girl abused for years
http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?rip_id=<[email protected]>&ps=1011&page=1
Updated article with more information about when the girl was found and some more background.
.........The girl's 18-year-old stepbrother also was arrested on a probation and parole hold. DeSpain said he couldn't comment on why the brother was arrested. Two other minors in the home were taken into protective custody, DeSpain said.
Police said they had encountered the girl once before in 2007, when someone alleged she might have been molested by a family member. The girl did not corroborate the allegation and her family was not cooperative with a detective, police said.
She appeared healthy at the time, police said.
Vega said he has never felt worse about anything in his life.
"That night (after finding the teen) I said to my wife we need to pray for that girl because no one else cares or prays for her," he said. "You couldn't imagine as a parent or even as a human you couldn't imagine the look on her face and how sick she looked and know somebody was ultimately responsible for that."
More at link....
He needs to come to WS!
http://www.centurylink.net/news/read.php?rip_id=<[email protected]>&ps=1011&page=1
Updated article with more information about when the girl was found and some more background.
.........The girl's 18-year-old stepbrother also was arrested on a probation and parole hold. DeSpain said he couldn't comment on why the brother was arrested. Two other minors in the home were taken into protective custody, DeSpain said.
Police said they had encountered the girl once before in 2007, when someone alleged she might have been molested by a family member. The girl did not corroborate the allegation and her family was not cooperative with a detective, police said.
She appeared healthy at the time, police said.
Vega said he has never felt worse about anything in his life.
"That night (after finding the teen) I said to my wife we need to pray for that girl because no one else cares or prays for her," he said. "You couldn't imagine as a parent or even as a human you couldn't imagine the look on her face and how sick she looked and know somebody was ultimately responsible for that."
More at link....
He needs to come to WS!
QuestionOfBalance
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...her stepbrother is an apparent child sex offender on probation...can you get to this link from the courts...
http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=4911ABA9140291D5ACD2A3FFFBD1F
408.render6?countyNo=13&caseNo=2011CF000872&cacheId=&recordCount=0&offset=0&mode
=charges
http://wcca.wicourts.gov/caseDetails.do;jsessionid=4911ABA9140291D5ACD2A3FFFBD1F
408.render6?countyNo=13&caseNo=2011CF000872&cacheId=&recordCount=0&offset=0&mode
=charges
MarthaM
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Not many new details in this article, but it mentions that Social Services and others may have had some previous contact with the family:
http://www.wkow.com/story/16945455/probation-agent-recently-at-child-torture-victims-house
http://www.wkow.com/story/16945455/probation-agent-recently-at-child-torture-victims-house
Hopeful One
Blessed are the cracked for they are the ones who
I don't think this article has been posted but it has a lot of information. If it's already been posted, sorry for the duplication!!
MADISON, Wis. -- A man who found a severely malnourished 15-year-old girl walking barefoot outside in pajamas said she was bleeding from a gash on her nose and crying.
Mike Vega said Wednesday that the teen he found walking near her Madison home Feb. 6 also had scrapes and a big bruise on her forehead and was so scrawny he mistook her for an 8-year-old.
Vega said he saw the girl as he was driving on Siggelkow Road, near Valley Drive on Madison's southeast side.
"She had came up to the car, and I rolled the window down and I said, 'Do you need help?' And she said, 'Yes,' and reached out for my hand in the car door," Vega said.
Vega said while they waited in his car for an ambulance to arrive, she told him her stepmother had thrown her down the basement stairs and that she escaped through a window.
Seeing her without any socks and shoes prompted Vega to wonder how many steps she endured to get to get to where he found her.
"I mean, I don't know where I found her in relation to the house," Vega said. "But she was purple on her feet and she was getting frostbite."
http://www.channel3000.com/news/30466789/detail.html
MADISON, Wis. -- A man who found a severely malnourished 15-year-old girl walking barefoot outside in pajamas said she was bleeding from a gash on her nose and crying.
Mike Vega said Wednesday that the teen he found walking near her Madison home Feb. 6 also had scrapes and a big bruise on her forehead and was so scrawny he mistook her for an 8-year-old.
Vega said he saw the girl as he was driving on Siggelkow Road, near Valley Drive on Madison's southeast side.
"She had came up to the car, and I rolled the window down and I said, 'Do you need help?' And she said, 'Yes,' and reached out for my hand in the car door," Vega said.
Vega said while they waited in his car for an ambulance to arrive, she told him her stepmother had thrown her down the basement stairs and that she escaped through a window.
Seeing her without any socks and shoes prompted Vega to wonder how many steps she endured to get to get to where he found her.
"I mean, I don't know where I found her in relation to the house," Vega said. "But she was purple on her feet and she was getting frostbite."
http://www.channel3000.com/news/30466789/detail.html
I don't know if Im allowed to post this, but me, my 2 sisters, and my brother were not even ALLOWED to have part-time jobs, we were not allowed to learn to drive, we were not allowed to have friends or leave our yard. We had to come straight home from school, stay in the house, and keep our freakin' mouths shut. I'm amazed we all survived. My younger sister has cut off all ties with family because she doesn't want anyone in her life that reminds her of her childhood. Sorry, but I just needed to share this. Thanks for listening.
As a teenager, I hid food in my room and I was far from an abused child. My parents had money, I was always well-fed and we wanted for nothing. My parents were also incredibly loving.
I don't know why I did it. I think it was sort of a control thing. Kind of like a way to show myself that I could control ME and my parents couldn't have a handle on that one little part of myself. It made me feel good to have little stashes of licorice and Little Debbie snacks.
I think I was a weirdo.
ETA: I never stole the food. I bought it with my own money, the money I earned from working my part-time job.
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