| For Immediate Release Case # 08NF2401
August 7, 2009 |
Susan Kang Schroeder Public Affairs Counsel Office: 714-347-8408 Cell: 714-292-2718 Farrah Emami |
PARENTS SENTENCED TO 12 YEARS IN PRISON FOR ISOLATING AND ABUSING CHILDREN BY BINDING THEIR WRISTS AND ANKLES FOR HOURS AND KEEPING THEM FROM SCHOOL AND FAMILY
FULLERTON – A mother and father were sentenced today to 12 years and eight months in state prison for abusing their children by binding their wrists and ankles and leaving them tied up for hours at a time. Kimberly Joy Quebe, 49, and John Herman Quebe, 48, both of Anaheim, pleaded guilty to two felony counts of false imprisonment, two counts of child abuse, and two counts of corporal injury on a child with great bodily injury.
In July 2008, the defendants had been married for 21 years and were living in the same Anaheim Hills home for six years with their two children, Jane Doe, 15, and John Doe, 11. For six years, the Quebes physically and verbally abused their children. They frequently tied up the victims for hours at a time by binding their wrists and ankles using tights to punish the children for minor issues. They left the children’s wrists and ankles bound overnight and forced them to sleep on the floor. The Quebes placed a latch approximately six inches from the top of John Doe’s door, out of his reach, and locked him in his room for hours. Kimberly Quebe frequently verbally assaulted the children by screaming obscenities and calling them degrading names.
The Quebes refused to allow other family members to see the victims, did not send the children to school under the false pretense of providing home schooling, and rarely allowed the victim’s to leave the house or go outside.
On July 18, 2008, Orange County Social Services Agency (SSA) received an after-hours call from a citizen stating that they had seen the children one week earlier at a community pool with restraint marks and bruising to their wrists and ankles. SSA contacted the Anaheim Police Department (APD), who went to the home that night but were unable to make contact with the defendants. On July 21, 2008, APD went back to the home with SSA. After Kimberly Quebe eventually opened the door, officers observed that the victims had dark ligature marks and scarring on their wrists and ankles. Both children were taken into the protective custody by SSA.
John and Jane Doe’s foster father came to court to tell the court that the children were doing well and they were happy. He also relayed that the children still loved their parents but they did not want contact with them for the time being.
“These children have been through so much and I am thankful they are doing well and thriving in a loving environment. They were essentially raised in a `prison’ where the walls were erected by two people who should have loved them the most and had a duty to protect them. They were isolated from society, and most importantly, from other children. They are now experiencing many `firsts’ in their lives, including going to school, making friends, playing outside and learning to ride a bicycle,” stated Deputy District Attorney Christine Simmons of the Family Protection Unit who prosecuted this case.
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