Human garbage in Pennsylvania

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Police: 5 kids, 2 adults held captive in basement

Updated: Sep 19, 2007 09:56 PM EDT

 
 
 
HARRISBURG, Pa. (AP) -- Five children and two disabled women were locked in a basement cell, fed meager food and rarely allowed to bathe, by a couple facing criminal charges over their care, authorities said.

The couple were paid $9,000 a month to care for the seven.

The unlit 4-foot-by-5-foot cinderblock cell was called the "toy room," according to a police affidavit.

One of two 14-year-old boys spent more than 20 hours a day there, sleeping on a concrete floor with only a blanket, authorities said. Others were sometimes locked into the cell as punishment, police said.

The five boys, two of whom have disabilities, were adopted by James and Stephanie Dickinson starting in 1998. All seven were removed from the Dickinsons' home last October while police investigated.

Dickinson, 61, and his 57-year-old wife were charged Tuesday with false imprisonment, recklessly endangering others and endangering children's welfare. Stephanie Dickinson also was charged with witness intimidation.

Stephanie Dickinson said she was innocent while being led away by police on Tuesday.

"I love my children very, very much," she told WGAL-TV. "I did not do the things they said I did."

Police described three of the children and both adults as having "mental/physical" disabilities. The boys ranged in age from 6 to 15. The women are in their 50s and were placed with the Dickinsons in 1992 and 1995.

Breakfast for the seven consisted of peanut butter sandwiches and dinner was a crock pot meal prepared by Stephanie Dickinson, including a dish known as "doggie dew stew," police said.

Only two of the victims were allowed to shower about once every week or two. The others would wash or be washed in the basement sink. Two older boys took care of everyone when they were not in school, according to police. During the day, one of the women was in charge.

The seven victims had unsupervised access to prescription medications and rat poison, and one of the older children was forced to empty the basement's portable toilet daily by hauling a bucket upstairs, according to the affidavit.

The Dickinsons' house rules kept the seven from the basement refrigerator without permission, required them to drink water from the sink, limited radio and television to Christian stations, banned going outside without permission and punished noisemaking with spankings using a spatula or wooden paddle, police said. In general, they were not allowed upstairs.

During a supervised visit the Dickinsons were allowed after the five boys were placed in foster care, Stephanie Dickinson allegedly told the 15-year-old boy that "he needed to make things right, that if the family got broken, it would be his fault and he would have to deal with the weight of that on his shoulders."

The Dickinsons remained in custody Wednesday in lieu of $500,000 bail each. A court spokeswoman said they were not represented by lawyers.

 
 
 
 

[Len Budney]

Disgusting.

Unfortunately, the foster care system seems to encourage "kid farming." I haven't seen cages or other barbarities, but I've seen more than a few families stuff their homes with foster kids for the checks. One lady specialized in kids with Down's Syndrome, because they paid more.

--Len.

[Perd Hapley]

A really terrible situation, and probably deserving of criminal charges, but the article seems very misleading.

Police: 5 kids, 2 adults held captive in basement

Five children and two disabled women were locked in a basement cell....unlit 4-foot-by-5-foot cinderblock cell...

So seven people were living in a four-by-five room, right?  No. 

One of two 14-year-old boys spent more than 20 hours a day there, sleeping on a concrete floor with only a blanket, authorities said. Others were sometimes locked into the cell as punishment, police said.

The article goes on to say that some of the kids went to school.  They lived under terrible conditions, but it's not as if they never saw the sunlight. 

dinner was a crock pot meal prepared by Stephanie Dickinson, including a dish known as "doggie dew stew," police said.

So?

one of the older children was forced to empty the basement's portable toilet daily by hauling a bucket upstairs, according to the affidavit.

Forced?  He's a kid; most work is going to be "forced," or he won't do it.  Is that such an evil chore to expect of a fourteen-year-old?  How about the reporter just tells us the real problem - the "care-givers" didn't have very sanitary facilities. 

The Dickinsons' house rules kept the seven from the basement refrigerator without permission, required them to drink water from the sink, limited radio and television to Christian stations, banned going outside without permission and punished noisemaking with spankings using a spatula or wooden paddle, police said. In general, they were not allowed upstairs.

Water from the sink?  I don't understand what's wrong with that. 

These were kids and adults, some of whom were mentally handicapped.  Maybe some of these rules were necessary.  Most of the above don't seem cruel or negligent.


But again, terrible situation, I'm glad these creeps are being investigated. 

[Matthew Carberry]

No bottled water?  That's inhuman!

[Antibubba]

The Dickinsons' house rules kept the seven from the basement refrigerator without permission, required them to drink water from the sink, limited radio and television toChristian stations, banned going outside without permission and punished noisemaking with spankings using a spatula or wooden paddle, police said. In general, they were not allowed upstairs.
 

Ahh, they were Godly.  That's alright then.   

[Perd Hapley]

It's alright?  I thought they were facing charges. 

[stevelyn]

Human Garbage.......

You're being too charitable. My opinion is once they cross the line they forfeit their humanity and should be reffered to and employed as 100 meter pop-up targets.

[cordex]

A really terrible situation, and probably deserving of criminal charges, but the article seems very misleading.

I had the same thought, Fistful.  A lot of the complaints ("forced labor", description of food, etc) didn't really get me riled up. 

When I was much younger, my dad lost his job and was forced to move across the country.  Our family lived with my grandparents for a few months until we could get back on our feet.  We never starved, but we ate "meager food" at times.  I was "forced" to do a lot of chores that I didn't want to do; some involving excrement and others involving rotten foods.  For one winter I slept in an unheated, dusty camping trailer with a thin foam mattress and an old sleeping bag.  I drank tap water almost exclusively.  My parents weren't abusive, and they certainly don't deserve to be used as pop-up targets on a shooting range.

On the other hands, my parents weren't pulling down $108,000 a year from the government to take care of me either.

To me it sounds like these folks were exploiting a system and certainly not passing along the benefit of the money they were being given, but I think a punishment more befitting the crime would be imprisonment and fines, not summary execution.  Their wards were being fed at least twice a day, sheltered, clothed and apparently at least some were sent to school.  They did not care for their wards as well as they should and certainly do not deserve to continue to be guardians, but I'd probably stop short at having them shot.

[jeepmor]

To me it sounds like these folks were exploiting a system and certainly not passing along the benefit of the money they were being given

Ya think

[Perd Hapley]

I drank tap water almost exclusively.

Have we reached that point where that seems like child abuse to some people?  I mean, some parts of the country don't have the safest water systems, but I chug from the tap every day. 

Really, is that considered a bad thing now? 

[Matthew Carberry]

I was reading some advice column a while back where the homeowner was asking if it was rude to offer hired workers glasses of tap water (with the implication tap wasn't good enough). 

One person wrote in remembering a time when a day laborer would ask politely before taking a drink from the hose.

I drank from both as a child at my parents direction and don't feel "abused".

[MechAg94]

I tend to agree that the article's description does not seem to live up to the headline.  It does sound like they weren't real nice people, but not on the same level as other stories I have heard.

Also, the article sounds like all those facts came from the kids.  It said the police were investigating.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if the facts in the article were exaggerated. 

[Joe Demko]

but I chug from the tap every day.   

Many things are now clear.

[Jamisjockey]

Don't tell DCFS, but I give my kids tap water, and sugar-free kool aid made from tap water.
Right now, I'm even drinking tap water...
 

[Perd Hapley]

but I chug from the tap every day.     

Many things are now clear.

I was waiting for that.      I'd like to put a filter on the kitchen tap, but haven't gotten around to it since the move. 

Also, the article sounds like all those facts came from the kids.  It said the police were investigating.  I wouldn't be at all surprised if the facts in the article were exaggerated.

Also, the article listed a lot of rules about going outside, getting into the fridge, listening to the radio, etc.  But it doesn't tell us if those rules applied to the small children (where they may have been appropriate or understandable) or if they applied to the older kids or the adults.  And were the adults mentally disabled?  They'd need some looking after, to.  Not that these people were looking after them very well, of course. 

[doczinn]

The Dickinsons' house rules kept the seven from the basement refrigerator without permission, required them to drink water from the sink, limited radio and television to Christian stations, banned going outside without permission and punished noisemaking with spankings using a spatula or wooden paddle, police said. In general, they were not allowed upstairs.

They certainly seem like bad parents, or at least incompetent ones, but I fail to see any abuse in the above paragraph.