Local woman charged with child abuse
By LESLEY TOTH
Mille Lacs County Times
A rural Milaca woman faces five child abuse allegations after charges were filed in Mille Lacs County this past Friday.
The charges stem from an incident Mille Lacs County Sheriff’s Deputies began investigating Dec. 10, 2011 when they arrived at the Fairview Northland Hospital in Princeton. At the hospital, deputies met with a 3-year-old child and the child’s mother. The woman told deputies that her child had been cared for by Mary Janelle Roelofs, 46, from 8:30 a.m. to around 6 p.m. the day before at her residence in Princeton. Deputies saw bruising on the child and photographed the injuries.
The child told his mother Roelofs had made him stand outside in the cold several times that day. The child and an adult also in Roelofs’ care told the mother and investigators that during one of these times, the child wet his pants. Both said Roelofs changed his wet pants, and put a pull-up on him. The child said later he was put outside again wearing only a t-shirt and pull-up.
The child told his mother and investigators that a few weeks before this incident, Roelofs had punched the boy all over. The adult witness told investigators that the 3-year-old had pushed another child and Roelofs began punching him all over his stomach, sides, arms, shoulders and on top of the head.
Law enforcement received the medical records for the 3-year-old child from the examination Dec. 10. Police also took a statement from the attending doctor. The doctor said he would have been concerned about the bruises even without the mother’s statements because they are located in unusual places. Bruises were found on the child’s upper back, chest, neck and shoulders. Superficial scratches were also found on the child’s face.
Roelofs has been charged with three counts of malicious punishment of a child, one count of child neglect and one count of endangerment of a child. She faces a combined maximum penalty of nine years in jail and up to $22,000 in fines.
Roelofs’ next court date is Tuesday, Feb. 28.
For the full story, see the Thursday, Feb. 16 print edition of the Times.
This poor child! A 3 year old being punished like that makes me sick. What was she thinking making a 3 year old child carry wood from outside to inside. Punish and hurt him for having accident. Kids have bathroom accidents all the time it just happens! My heart goes out to the family of this little boy!
YOU HAVE GOT TO BE KIDDING ME!! I am personally aware of the allegations and the facts. I am also personally aquainted with both the accused and the accuser as well as the character of each. Although SOME facts were presented here correctly, this article and the accuser, in whole, has attemted to smear the godly character of a good woman. Reporters, please do a little bit of homework. Your job can’t be THAT difficult! As for Mary and the whole Roelofs family, I am sure you are aware of the tremendous support you have in this community and all who know you. Take comfort in the feeling of being justified in the end. Lies and distortions will never measure up to truth and a clean heart.
Jeff, At first, I found this hard to believe or swallow, BUT good people can do and will do bad things. Sometimes, we can make irrational decisions that take a moment but last a lifetime.You blame the reporters for their distortion of the facts, but Mary can certainly tell her side of the story at anytime if she wants to clear her name. She admits to not feeding him until 3:30!! What?? No wonder he was acting up and being disobedient! Food is not a reward or punishment for behavior. It is a requirement to fed in order to be nourished and healthy!! She admitted to placing the child outside-IN THE COLD! That’s SICK and cruel! She said that she was not aware of causing any bruises. If she was innocent, she would say “I had nothing to do with this! I didn’t cause any bruises!” Thank God he is out of her care! Jeff, please enlighten us with the “lies” and “distortions” of which you speak!
The only ones who know the facts are the ones involved. Hearsay is not reliable nor valid. I too know both involved and witnessed the child’s bruises. Horrendous and disgusting! Shame! God is the final judge. Thank you LESLEY TOTH for doing the research.
I must respectfully state that,t if you actually knew the facts you would know that that Times took all of these fact from a the complaint. This complaint was a result of the child protection interviews that were conducted on many children that had resided in that home, not just the little boy. These facts are true and accurate, all of the information is directly from the Complaint filed, with the charges with the Mille Lacs County Attorneys office based on the extensive interviews that were conducted by child protection. I would also like to state that, this is not about the adults in this case, what is important to remember is the children that have been hurt.
I don’t know from what i read, its pretty self explanatory what she admitted to, what she told the sherriffs office, and what the doctor said, those are the facts. A court of law will bring this to light and judge this situations and punish. The bottom line is that baby was wronged and is a victum. so so sad.
Jeff do you think that the Mille Lacs County Times made up the story? It appears that she was in fact charged. If that is the case doesn’t the Mille Lacs County Times have a responsibility to report the news? If she is found innocent I’m sure they will have an article about that as well.
Well said, Brad! I agree that the Times did their job by reporting the facts.
Brad, I would like you and everyone else to remember that in our legal system a person is innocent unti proven guilty. You have it backwards when you say, ” if she is found innocent.” The article does not even begin to give enough information for anyone to judge her. I personally believe that the facts in this case have been blown way out of proportion. I know Mary and her family and they are Godly loving people who have done a wonderful job in helping many kids and families . Foster kids come from some bad situations and are at times angry, resentful, and troubled. I was one of these troubled kids and spent time in foster care. It was incredibly difficult to go from no rules or boundaries to a normal living situation. It caused me to rebel against the rules and the people who were enforcing them. When young children are feeling that way, sometimes they will strike out and say things that are not true. I personally made my foster parents to sound like monsters , when in fact they were just trying to take care of me. I have also experienced what a truly bad foster home is like. Physical and mental abuse and worse. The Roelofs home does not even come close to being a bad home. So I am asking you all to stop rushing to judgement and to let the legal system runs it course. So I encourage the whole family to hold their heads high and trust that God’s will be done in this situation.
any one with a godly heart that hits a 3 year old boy better fear the almighty god only then will justice be served . how can you expect a diapered 3 year old to sweep floors and carry fire wood . then ya have a doctor stating their were brusies and marks on his poor little body . may god help this little boy to heal and forget this brutal treatment . this mary must be crazy to hurt a precious child how would any one justify this , a godly woman i think not . may god have mercy on mary for her actions cause i dont know any one that would treat a child this way unless they were on drugs and then it would still be wrong . realisiticly this is a 3 year old child not a 10 year old . forcing a child to stand out side in the cold with no pants on i hope that justice will be served and the facts are not covered with lies . god bless this poor little boy and his mom for having to go thru this .
Thank you Brad, Jeff, me, Jennifer, K, and Sara for also praying for the innocent children involved in this horrific event. All of these children were taken from abusive or neglected homes to be placed in another as it sounds by the evidence and confession. I pray for ALL including Mary and her family. Something obviously is wrong mentally to cause such pain. The community needs to understand we all do not know what goes on behind closed doors.
Dear Mr. Setzer, You are assuming that this woman is guilty. Did you make this assumption just by reading one newspaper article ? I pray that you never find yourself in any kind of situation of being accused of a crime and having many people instantly assume that you are guilty. I imagine you would like to have a trial to determine your guilt or innocence before people judged you. The scary part is that many people who make these rash judgements are potential jurors for this and other cases. If I had to face a jury I would hope that they came into the courtroom without already thinking I was guilty. That is why the media can be so dangerous in reporting such stories. It causes such an emotional reaction even if all the facts are not known and it has the potential of polluting the jury pool. We need to follow the example of regarding people to be innocent until proven guilty and I would hope that it would take more than a newspaper story to prove anyone’s guilt.
THIS IS HORRIBLE!!! I cannot imagine anyone doing something like this to a child. I first read this in the paper and the details made me sick. I also cannot not believe that a licensed foster care provider would do anything like this to a kid. The paper said that she admitted to everything except the bruises she did not know if she did that. I have raised 3 children and I can not even understand what kind of person would even think of this stuff, punching a child, of any age, all over his body for any reason is some real sick stuff. As for you Jeff, you seemed to be more concerned about this Mary’s well being more than the children she has cared for. I wonder how many other kids in her care have gone through this stuff in this woman’s home. God has give us the children in our world to care for and nurture. HE DOES NOT CONDON THIS TYPE OF ABUSE. I AM SURE OF IT. I wish the best of luck to this child and his family. My prayers are with you.
When ever anyone reports abuse. The idea is that abuse may have taken place. The idea to smear reputable person name is never the intention. The bottom line is that mandate reporters are not responsible for determining abuse they are responsible for reporting suspected abuse and that is what took place. A report the fact that criminal charges have been filed is the County Attorney’s office. The mother and child have nothing to do with the paper or the criminal charges. Merely a mother protecting the interest of her child and giving up everything to make a very difficult decision that affected there income and home and left them homeless. Please continue to pray for the Roelofs and the mother and child to insure that Gods will be glorified in the end. Suspected abuse and neglect were substantiated in child the protection investigation.
So, I pretty much agree with a lot of the comments made here. Our concern SHOULD be with the children in this situation. I believe Mary believes so too and she has a pretty good track record over the past 24 plus years of sacrifice for kids and families to prove it. Please refer to the 2 comments excellently written in following weeks paper regarding Mary and foster care, in general. Maybe I was a bit harsh on Ms. Toths reporting as I am not familiar with all the information she gathered for this story. I apologize for that. But as typical with so much of media these days, there sure seems to have been a slant. There will be a time for Mary to respond. What I am saying is, until then, don’t be so quick to judge her actions or character as I believe this article has unfortunately done…but, hey, that sells news. p.s. I, myself have had my 3 year old carry firewood…LORD, forgive me.
I know I may be biased by saying this, but every experience I have had with this woman was not pleasant. I do not want to give the Wolberts a bad name, but when one of them is acting so high and mighty, like she is above everyone else, I’m sorry, but that’s where I draw the line. Just because you have God in your life does not mean that you can mistreat others, not just the child. I know that is the main point, and it is terrible, terrible news. But I can honestly say that adults have been mistreated, emotionally by Mary as well.
ya know z i have to tend to agree with ya , when they get into trouble they dig god out and put him on their shoulder like where was god when this poor child was behing punched , stuck in the cold repeadedly and for what not sweeping a floor this behavior was only the first time ever reported i did find it funny no other people came forward tell you z god bless you for speaking youre mind ya know if there was help for a person that punched a 3 year old tell he was covered in bruses it be in a prison cell dwelling on why . a slap on the wrist to a millionare aint nothing i just pray every day i am on her jury trial and justice will prevail