2 couples adopted, fostered nearly 30 kids
DEWITT TOWNSHIP, Mich. – Four adoptive parents living in mid-Michigan are each facing numerous charges in an alleged scheme to adopt children for financial gain and subsequently and secretly abuse them.
Michigan Attorney General Dana Nessel’s office on Monday announced dozens of child abuse charges against couples Joel and Tammy Brown and Jerry and Tamal Flore. Nessel’s office said the charges were brought against the DeWitt, Michigan couples after evidence was obtained relating to the “abuse against eight of the dozens of children adopted through their homes since 2007.”
Each of the four adults are facing separate charges including varying degrees of child abuse, conspiracy to commit child abuse, and failing to report child abuse. Jerry and Tamal Flore face the most charges -- 11 and 17, respectively -- including several counts of first-degree child abuse, which is a felony charge that carries a punishment of life in prison.
According to officials, the couples conspired to adopt children for financial gain with the particular help of Joel Brown, who was formerly employed by the Michigan Department of Health and Human Service’s children’s services agency. Brown is accused of using “his expertise in the field of child abuse investigations and the child protection laws to circumvent detection of the ongoing child abuse in his own home and that of the Flores.”