A Grand Junction couple has been charged with felony child abuse for allegedly handcuffing a teenage boy from morning until bedtime, whipping him with a belt and denying him food and bathroom breaks.
John Wilson, 40, the boy’s biological father; and Kristie Moore, 35, Wilson’s live-in girlfriend who authorities consider to be the boy’s stepmother, were arrested Thursday and are being held without bond.
According to the arrest affidavit, the boy frequently was handcuffed to a railing in the living room, sometimes in the morning, and would not be released until his father returned from work. In some instances, the boy remained there until 9 p.m.
He would be denied food, water and bathroom breaks, the affidavit stated. The boy, believed to be 15 years old now, was described in July 2006 as 5-foot-3 and weighing only 95 pounds.
Often, he would be beaten with a black belt the couple kept in the kitchen near the microwave oven.
In one instance, the father kicked the handcuffed boy in his genitals, which caused the boy extreme pain, according to the affidavit.
Moore would make the boy do jumping jacks and stair-stepping for hours to burn off his energy and anger, she allegedly told investigators.
A teenage girl, believed to be Moore’s daughter, also lived in the house but was never handcuffed. She told investigators she had been struck with the same black belt. For stealing food one time, she was grounded for a year and forced to sit at the kitchen table from the time she returned from school until she went to bed at night.
The affidavit also states that family members reported the couple to the Denver Department of Human Services when they lived in Denver.
“But the family moved frequently and nothing was ever done,” the affidavit states.
The Grand Junction Daily Sentinel on Saturday quoted a distant niece as saying that Wilson and Moore ducked detection from authorities by taking the boy and girl out of classes in middle school, moving often and being manipulative about their actions.
Darcy Wilson said Wilson and Moore had scared the children into acting as if everything was OK when authorities came to visit.
“They were really good at hiding,” Darcy Wilson said. “They were good at manipulating and scared the children.”
Darcy Wilson said John Wilson often moved around to different cities on the Front Range, either when they were getting evicted from a home or to duck questioning from child-welfare authorities.
Both the girl and the boy were removed from the house in July 2006. But the affidavit does not explain what happened in the house from July 2006 until the affidavit was signed on April 15, 2008.
The Mesa County Sheriff’s Office, which conducted the investigation, could not explain the time gap on Friday.
The Associated Press contributed to this report.
