In January 1994, 34-year-old Adolfo Gomez walked out of prison in Illinois after serving three years for burglary and theft. Four years later, he was living in the suburban Chicago community of Naperville with his 29-year-old wife Deborah and their two sons, ages one and two. In October 1998, Deborah pleaded guilty to child neglect after leaving the boys alone in their apartment for 8 hours.
In 2007, the couple, now with four children ages 2 to 11, were living in Lombard, Illinois. That November Adolfo pleaded guilty to a drunk driving charge.
From 2008 through 2010, the Gomez family, now comprised of 5 children, moved from one apartment to another around DuPage and Cook Counties, Illinois. Their landlord in Wood Dale from whom they rented a basement apartment, noticed that Adolfo had installed padlocks on the doors to his children's bedrooms. The oldest Gomez child told the landlord he did all the cooking, and that the family acquired its food from local churches.
While living in Northlake, another suburban Chicago community, the Illinois Department of Family Services, in November 2011, opened a child neglect case on Adolfo and Deborah Gomez. Following the investigation, the agency, in April 2012, closed the case without taking action against the parents. Two months earlier, Adolfo spent 12 days in the DuPage County Jail for failure to pay several fines and comply with various court orders.
On June 10, 2012, the Gomez family, while on a road trip to Arizona to visit relatives, had car trouble in Lawrence, Kansas. Adolfo managed to coax the Chevy Suburban utility vehicle into a remote spot on a Walmart parking lot. Late in the morning of Wednesday, June 13, a Walmart shopper noticed a 5-year-old boy sitting on the ground near the Gomez vehicle. The child's hands were tied behind his back, and his feet were bound. The boy had also been blindfolded. The shopper called 911.
When officers from the Lawrence Police Department rolled up to the scene, they saw the boy and his 7-year-old sister, also bound and blindfolded, sitting near the broken down Suburban. The other three Gomez children were in the vehicle with their father. Deborah was inside the Walmart store.
Adolfo Gomez resisted arrest causing the officers to subdue him with a stun gun. Ten minutes later, they took Deborah Gomez into custody when she walked out of the store. The five children were turned over to a child protection agency, and the Chevy was hauled to a police towing lot.
A Douglas County prosecutor charged the 52 and 37-year-old couple with two counts of child abuse and five counts of child endangerment. Adolfo was also charged with resisting arrest. The judge scheduled the preliminary hearing on the case for August 10. In the meantime, Adolfo and Deborah are being held in the Douglas County Jail under $50,000 bond each. Adolfo has informed the court he intends to represent himself and his wife against the charges. The judge has ordered mental evaluations of the defendants. (The fact Adolfo plans to be his own attorney tells me all I need to know about his mental state. The fact Deborah is married married to him is all I need to know about her.)
It will be interesting to see how Adolfo, as his own lawyer, will attempt to justify why he or his wife had tied up and blindfolded two of their children. I can't image, at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, the judge not binding this case over for trial. If Adolfo Gomez is a smart self-attorney, he will cop a plea for himself and his wife. And hope for the best. I hope he pleads not guilty, and is forced to take the consequences.
In 2007, the couple, now with four children ages 2 to 11, were living in Lombard, Illinois. That November Adolfo pleaded guilty to a drunk driving charge.
From 2008 through 2010, the Gomez family, now comprised of 5 children, moved from one apartment to another around DuPage and Cook Counties, Illinois. Their landlord in Wood Dale from whom they rented a basement apartment, noticed that Adolfo had installed padlocks on the doors to his children's bedrooms. The oldest Gomez child told the landlord he did all the cooking, and that the family acquired its food from local churches.
While living in Northlake, another suburban Chicago community, the Illinois Department of Family Services, in November 2011, opened a child neglect case on Adolfo and Deborah Gomez. Following the investigation, the agency, in April 2012, closed the case without taking action against the parents. Two months earlier, Adolfo spent 12 days in the DuPage County Jail for failure to pay several fines and comply with various court orders.
On June 10, 2012, the Gomez family, while on a road trip to Arizona to visit relatives, had car trouble in Lawrence, Kansas. Adolfo managed to coax the Chevy Suburban utility vehicle into a remote spot on a Walmart parking lot. Late in the morning of Wednesday, June 13, a Walmart shopper noticed a 5-year-old boy sitting on the ground near the Gomez vehicle. The child's hands were tied behind his back, and his feet were bound. The boy had also been blindfolded. The shopper called 911.
When officers from the Lawrence Police Department rolled up to the scene, they saw the boy and his 7-year-old sister, also bound and blindfolded, sitting near the broken down Suburban. The other three Gomez children were in the vehicle with their father. Deborah was inside the Walmart store.
Adolfo Gomez resisted arrest causing the officers to subdue him with a stun gun. Ten minutes later, they took Deborah Gomez into custody when she walked out of the store. The five children were turned over to a child protection agency, and the Chevy was hauled to a police towing lot.
A Douglas County prosecutor charged the 52 and 37-year-old couple with two counts of child abuse and five counts of child endangerment. Adolfo was also charged with resisting arrest. The judge scheduled the preliminary hearing on the case for August 10. In the meantime, Adolfo and Deborah are being held in the Douglas County Jail under $50,000 bond each. Adolfo has informed the court he intends to represent himself and his wife against the charges. The judge has ordered mental evaluations of the defendants. (The fact Adolfo plans to be his own attorney tells me all I need to know about his mental state. The fact Deborah is married married to him is all I need to know about her.)
It will be interesting to see how Adolfo, as his own lawyer, will attempt to justify why he or his wife had tied up and blindfolded two of their children. I can't image, at the conclusion of the preliminary hearing, the judge not binding this case over for trial. If Adolfo Gomez is a smart self-attorney, he will cop a plea for himself and his wife. And hope for the best. I hope he pleads not guilty, and is forced to take the consequences.
No comments:
Post a Comment