Judge orders couple to stand trial in Clinton County foster child abuse case
ST. JOHNS — The cases against a DeWitt couple charged with adopting children for financial gain and subjecting them to abuse over many years are moving toward trial.
Jerry and Tamal Flore were bound over to 29th Circuit Court on a combined 26 counts of child abuse following a preliminary examination this week in Clinton County District Court, the state Attorney General's Office said in a news release.
But a visiting judge who conducted the hearing ruled there was too little evidence against Joel and Tammy Brown, who were charged alongside the Flores, to sustain the child abuse charges against them, the AG's office said.
The Flores and Browns initially were charged in late 2021. But the charges against the Browns were dismissed by Cinton County District Judge Michael Clarizio after a preliminary exam in 2022, and the charges against the Flores were dismissed by Clinton County Prosecutor Tony Spagnuolo in early 2023 in what he described as "a continuing further investigation."
Police had alleged in that case that the foster parents beat children with a boat oar, threw them down stairs, locked them in bedrooms for days, forced them to sleep in closets or on the laundry room floor and withheld meals from them.
The AG's office refiled charges against both couples late last year.
Jerry Flores, 58, faces 11 counts and Tamal Flore, 56, faces 17 counts, the AG said. The charges include first- and second-degree child abuse and conspiracy to commit child abuse.
Visiting Judge James Borchard ordered the Flores to stand trial but dismissed the felony child abuse charges against the Browns, the AG said.
Brown, 55, formerly worked in the Children’s Services Administration Office of Family Advocate, part of the Michigan Department of Health and Human Services. the AGs office said. Misdemeanor counts of interfering with a crime report and failure to report child abuse are still pending against Joel Brown.
Mary Chartier, who represented Joel Brown, described this week's ruling as "the right result for the Browns."
"We're really pleased with the outcome," the attorney said. "I'm pleased that two different judges saw this case exactly the same way and dismissed the charges."
When the charges were refiled last year, Attorney General Dana Nessel's office said the two couples conspired to adopt dozens of children and cover up physical and psychological abuse "all for personal financial gain." More charges were brought the second time around, officials said.
"These egregious allegations highlight not only a moral and legal failure of those entrusted with the children’s care," Nessel said at the time, "but a failure in our systems to ensure children placed in custody are properly taken care of."
Defense attorneys were critical of the investigation when the charges were refiled, and Chartier predicted the outcome would be the same as it was the first time around.
The child abuse charges against the Browns related to a daughter who had been placed in respite care with the Flores. Authorities alleged the Browns knew their daughter was being hurt and traumatized while in respite care.
"The Browns did nothing but love their daughter from the minute they met her," the attorney said. "They did everything they could for this little girl."
The AG said last year that nearly 30 children had been placed in the care of the Flores and Browns since 2007. The center of the case against the Flores and Browns was that they conspired together to bring in children from homes where they had been abused, officials said.
The charges detailed in last year's warrants related to eight children the couples have had under their care, Nessel said at the time. The children were subjected to "prolonged, routine and systemic mental and physical abuse under the guise of discipline," she said. The defendants were "easily able" to manipulate the system and received more than $1 million that should have gone toward care for the children, she said.
Contact Ken Palmer at kpalmer@lsj.com. Follow him on X @KBPalm_lsj
This article originally appeared on Lansing State Journal: Judge orders couple to stand trial in Clinton County foster child abuse case
