Separate Trials for Religious Zealot Parents for Binding and Duct Taping their Children’s Eyes Closed at Walmart
Prosecutors accuse the couple of using inhumane corporal punishment to tie up the two younger children. They face two counts of felony child abuse each.
A shopper at Walmart, 550 Congressional Drive, saw a child blindfolded and bound near the vehicle and called police June 13 because she believed it could be a possible child abduction.
The couple and their five children had stopped at Walmart when their Chevy Suburban broke down near Lawrence. The family was traveling from Northlake, Ill.
Lawrence police testified at a preliminary hearing earlier this week that one of the couple’s children and Adolfo Gomez said in interviews that the younger children were tied up and blindfolded because the family believed the kids were possessed by demons.
Adolfo Gomez had told police the two younger children were acting out toward the older children in the vehicle during Bible studies.
Police also said the family members had sold their belongings and were driving to Arizona because the parents believed demons were in their home in suburban Chicago and that the world was ending.
Officers also said the 7-year-old girl indicated she asked to be tied up, while the boy said Adolfo Gomez told him not to remove his bindings.
Prosecutors also allege the children’s health could have been in danger because of the conditions inside the vehicle, including trash, rotting food and bottles of urine. The parents each face five misdemeanor counts of child endangerment. Adolfo Gomez is also charged with one count of felony obstruction after officers used a Taser to subdue him.
More here: Children’s Eyes Duct Taped Closed