Sweet, the Herrmans got the max!

Adam Herrman‘s “parents” have gotten the maximum sentence for fraud: Doug got nine months in jail and Valerie got seven. (Doug got more because he had a prior criminal record.) I am very happy about this, because it looked like they wouldn’t serve any time at all. And of course they have to repay the money they stole, and court costs.

It must be said, of course, that the maximum is not very much here. But it’s better than nothing. As far as I’m concerned those two could never spend too many days behind bars.

From one article:

Butler County District Judge David Ricke gave Doug Herrman a nine-month sentence and Valerie Herrman a seven-month sentence — the maximum under the state sentencing grid. Ricke ordered that the couple be taken immediately into custody.

Their theft of $15,488 in state adoption subsidies for their adopted son was serious enough, Ricke said. But it isn’t just about the money, he said.

“This is about a boy named Adam Herrman, too,” Ricke said.

Adam is the 11-year-old adopted son who disappeared from the Herrmans’ Towanda home in 1999. The Herrmans never reported him missing, yet they continued to accept state money for his care, Ricke said.

If the Herrmans had told authorities that their son was missing, Ricke said, a missing-child alert could have been issued. There could have been search parties.

“His face should have been on milk cartons,” the judge said as the Herrmans and their attorneys listened.

“He deserved” to be reported missing, Ricke said.

But more than 12 years after Adam vanished, Ricke said, “this child is still missing.”

The judge described the couple’s inaction and action as “callous and emotionally detached” and as the “calculated abandonment of a child.”

It is a case, he said, of a child “whose interests were traded for money” by his parents.

Never was a truer thing said.

Articles:
The Wichita Eagle
The El Dorado Times
The Kansas City Star

And…here goes nothing

A few days ago I had been wondering on this blog what sort of trial Doug and Valerie Herrman would have for defrauding the state of Adam’s benefits after he “ran away from home” in 1999. As far as I could see there was no defense to be had: they did it. They knew what they were doing when they did it. They knew it was illegal and wrong. They confessed, many times. What possible defense could they present?

Well, evidently Doug and Valerie reached the same conclusion I did, because they reached a plea agreement with prosecutors: guilty to felony theft. They will have to pay restitution of $15,488, the amount they pleaded guilty to stealing. The agreement recommends a sentence of a year of probation and a $2,500 fine for each of them, but the judge could go as high as five to fifteen months in prison and $100,000. I seriously hope the judge decides to exceed the recommendation. These two need to serve some serious time.

Of course, as the Wichita Eagle puts it, the unresolved question here is what happened to Adam.

Nobody’s buying that “ran away” crap, Doug, Valerie. Everyone knows what really happened. I don’t care what sort of behavior problems the child had: Adam Herrman did not deserve to die the way he did, he did not deserve to be denied a proper resting place and the people who truly love him do not deserve to sit in limbo wondering what happened and where his body lies. So fess up. You’re going down either way.

What did you do to that little boy?

Adam Herrman’s so-called parents facing trial

According to the Wichita Eagle, the adoptive “parents” of Adam Herrman will go to trial in a week on charges of stealing money from the state that was meant to pay for his care. I have written enough about Adam and his very sad story that he has his own sub-category on this blog.

I can’t imagine what kind of defense Doug and Valerie Herrman will have. They have confessed many times that they took the money. They admit they lied many times on official documents and such that Adam was living with them when he was not. They admit that this fraud went on for years. The only thing I can think of is that the defense might try to mitigate their sentences or something.

Of course, the real question is: Where is Adam? Most likely: Where is he buried? Perhaps the looming specter of prison time for fraud might convince one of the Herrmans to flip and testify against the other about Adam’s disappearance. But it hasn’t happened yet.

Doug and Valerie Herrman plead not guilty to fraud

Doug and Valerie Herrman, the sorry excuses for parents of Adam Herrman (you know, the boy who supposedly ran away back in 1999 when he was 11, and his parents never reported him missing and it didn’t come out until late 2008, yeah, remember him?), have pleaded not guilty to fraud. Doug and Valerie had adopted Adam out of foster care when he was little. They collected over $50,000 in benefits such as adoption subsidies, etc., for Adam after he was no longer living in their home. Their attorney calls it a “technical violation.” Uh-huh, right. The trial is set for June.

Of course, Doug and Valerie are suspected of being guilty of far graver crimes than that. But right now, the Butler County District Attorney’s Office will take what it can get. The investigation into Adam’s disappearance has been quiet for awhile, but remains open and active.

I hope they dream about him every night.

Doug and Valerie Herrman make their court appearance

I found this article about Doug and Valerie Herrman, the prime suspects in the 1999 disappearance of their adopted son Adam whom I’ve written about many times before. Doug and Valerie are currently facing fraud charges; they admitted to receiving tens of thousands in state benefits for Adam’s care after he had “run away” from their home. That’s really the least of their worries, but that’s all that’s on the plate…for now.

The article, and this one too, have pictures of the Herrmans, the first I’ve seen. I will have to put some in Adam’s casefile.

Charges FINALLY filed in Adam Herrman case

I have blogged extensively before about Adam Herrman, who was eleven or twelve when he disappeared from Towanda, Kansas sometime in the late spring or summer of 1999. His adoptive “parents” never reported his disappearance and they lied to his other relatives so for close to a decade no one even realized he was missing. After his disappearance was finally discovered it came out that his adoptive mother, Valerie Herrman, abused him pretty badly.

Anyway, Valerie and her husband Doug have been charged with welfare theft. I had expected they would be charged with this eventually, since they admitted accepting about monthly state welfare benefits for Adam after he was no longer in their care. The total came to $52,800. They also accepted an adoption subsidy and claimed Adam as a dependent on their taxes.

They have posted bail and been released pending trial. Their attorneys claim it was just a “technical financial offense” and they will try to get the charges dismissed. Um…yeah. I really don’t buy that. Even if we actually accept the story that Adam ran away from home and his parents didn’t report him missing because they would get in trouble (and no one accepts that story), the Herrmans would have eventually realized he was not coming back and should have canceled the payments and subsidies then. It might be a “technical offense” if they didn’t report this for a month or two. Six or seven years, though? Less so.

The prosecutor said these charges are “just the beginning” for the Herrmans and she hopes the investigation will be wrapped up and more charges (including, possibly, homicide charges) filed by the end of the year. In the meantime, welfare fraud is easy to prove and should keep them in cold storage for a little while, at least, though I can’t find anything on how much time they’re facing.

Articles:
The Tulsa World
The Oklahoman
KAKE 10 (includes a video of Adam’s biological father)
KSN 3