Some of our more traditional, family-values readers may derive the wrong morale from this story. The kids were well-behaved and well-dressed, hmmm.....
CLEVELAND - A couple accused of forcing some of their 11 adopted children to sleep in cages say the criminal charges filed against them are a government vendetta.
Michael and Sharen Gravelle were indicted in Norwalk on Tuesday on counts of child endangerment, falsifying adoption applications and lying under oath when being qualified for adoption funding.
The Gravelles have denied mistreating the children, ages 1 to 15. The youngsters were placed in foster care last fall after a county social worker likened the wood and chicken-wire cages to kennels.
The couple have said the enclosures were necessary to keep the children from harming themselves or one another. The children have problems such as fetal alcohol syndrome and a disorder that involves eating nonfood items.
The couple's attorney, Ken Myers, said the pair was upset but determined to fight the charges.
"The Gravelles are good people and they were trying to do the right thing by raising these children and taking on an almost impossible task," Myers said. "Instead of giving the Gravelles the help and the resources they needed, the county has seen it fit to spend countless thousands of dollars to try to make sure that these people are ruined."
Sharen Gravelle denounced the indictment as a vendetta. "I can't say it's anything less," she told WJW-TV in Cleveland late Tuesday from their home near Wakeman, a rural area about 50 miles southwest of Cleveland.
Her husband told the station he had no regrets about the way the children were handled.
"This is what we chose to do and to look back and say would I have done it differently? No. I did it the way that we thought we needed to do and to keep our children safe," he said.
The misdemeanors and lying under oath charges against the couple do not specify the couple's alleged offenses, only saying where the crimes were alleged to have occurred and that they occurred from 1997 to 2005.
Huron County prosecutor Russ Leffler said Wednesday that he could not get into many details before a trial, but he said the falsification charges relate to government adoption subsidies the couple received.
The perjury charges involve sworn statements given in relation to an inspection of the Gravelles' home by social workers for the couple's first adoption. That statement was used to help the couple secure approval of five subsequent adoptions, Leffler said.
Interviews with adoption officials last fall and reviews of court documents showed that the Gravelles received thousands of dollars in government adoption subsidies and disability payments for the children ?- $4,265 a month in 2001 when the family had eight children. Cleveland's county-run agency paid the family at least $500 a month to care for one boy born with HIV.
Elaine Thompson, a licensed independent social worker hired by the Gravelles, also faces several charges, including aiding and abetting child endangering.
Thompson testified during a custody hearing that she approved of the cages as a way to help handle the children. But she said she never asked the youngsters how they felt about the enclosures during her weekly counseling sessions.
Thompson's attorney, Marilu Laubenthal, said her client, who has worked with adopted children for 40 years, is devastated. "To end her career like this is just too much," she said.
The children were removed from the Gravelles' home in September, and prosecutors asked a judge last month to place the children in the permanent custody of the county.
Juvenile Court Judge Timothy Cardwell set a Feb. 22 custody hearing. The Gravelles are scheduled to be arraigned on the criminal charges the same day.
If convicted, the Gravelles could face one to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000 for each of the 16 counts of felony child endangering. Thompson faces one to five years in prison and a maximum fine of $10,000 if convicted of the felony charges of aiding and abetting child endangering.
NORWALK, Ohio - A couple charged with abuse for forcing some of their 11 adopted children to sleep in cages were stripped of custody Monday, six months after a social worker discovered the enclosures.
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Juvenile Judge Timothy Cardwell said there was a good chance Michael and Sharen Gravelle would mistreat the children again, citing a history of sexual abuse allegations against the father.
The couple have pleaded not guilty to several charges, including child endangerment, in a separate criminal case. They deny abusing the children, ages 2 to 15, and say the cages were necessary to protect the youngsters, who suffered from psychological and behavioral problems.
"They love their children. They want them back. They are truly devastated," said the couple's attorney, Kenneth Myers. He said they will appeal the ruling.
Sharen Gravelle testified that she met her husband in 1986 at a potluck dinner for a child sex abuse support group. She said her biological daughter had been molested by a previous husband, and Michael Gravelle was there because he was accused by his biological daughter of inappropriate touching. Michael Gravelle denies the accusation.
