Polk man gets probation in high-profile child abuse case
BARTOW — A former Dundee man pleaded guilty Friday to a felony charge of child neglect causing great bodily harm, four years after a 17-year-old girl in his care was found hiding in the woods, malnourished and injured.
During Friday’s plea hearing, prosecutors asked that Kris Peters, 49, be sentenced to 51 months in prison, mirroring the state’s criminal punishment code in his case. But Circuit Judge Kevin Abdoney went below those guidelines in sentencing him to 15 years’ probation, saying Peters had shown genuine remorse and the case reflected an isolated incident and was committed in an unsophisticated manner.
Original Story:Dundee couple face child abuse charges after teen found suffering from severe malnutrition
Peters had pleaded guilty to the lesser of two charges against him. Prosecutors agreed to drop the aggravated child abuse charge, a first-degree felony, in exchange for his plea. But there was no agreement on a recommended sentence, leaving his sentence solely up to Abdoney. The neglect charge, a second-degree felony, carried a maximum punishment of 15 years in prison.
In addition to probation, Peters was ordered to serve 200 hours of community service and attend 8 weeks of anger management classes.
Peters and his wife, Melissa, 37, had been arrested in November 2016 after the teenager had run away and was found hiding in the woods near Dundee. A passerby, Michael Hickin, had come upon her, and she asked him for help. He told authorities she wouldn’t tell him where she lived out of fear, according to the Polk County Sheriff’s Office.
She was taken to Winter Haven Hospital, where emergency department doctors determined she was underweight and losing her hair — a sign of malnutrition — and had infected wounds on her feet and a stab wound in her shoulder, which also had been fractured, the Sheriff’s Office reported. Doctors said she weighed 86 pounds, or about 20 pounds less than her ideal weight, according to PCSO reports.
The girl told authorities she hadn’t been allowed to bathe in eight months, could eat only when she stole food when Kris and Melissa Peters weren’t looking and had endured repeated beatings on her feet with a metal pipe. Doctors determined those wounds were at least two months old and had become infected, according to Sheriff’s Office reports.
She had a stab wound on her right shoulder, the Sheriff’s Office reported, and her shoulder was fractured when her arm was held behind her back as she was thrown to the ground, trapping her arm behind her when her assailant laid on top of her.
She occasionally was given Pop-Tarts to eat, but little else, she told deputies, and was denied use of the bathroom, forcing her to urinate on herself on the floor. She said she was repeatedly kicked with black combat boots and hit on her arms, legs, back and stomach with white cable wire. She said she never was given medical attention for her injuries, according to Sheriff’s Office reports.
Upon their arrest, Kris and Melissa Peters told deputies the girl’s wounds were self-inflicted, and the injuries to her feet were caused by her picking at her skin, reports stated. Kris Peters said the stab wound occurred when they were trying to take a knife away from her and she accidentally stabbed herself, according to her arrest affidavit.
He told deputies the girl has mental health issues and repeatedly hits herself, and said her black eye happened when she fell onto a coffee table during a scuffle, the affidavit stated.
More:Dundee woman pleads to role in injuries to beaten, starving teen found hiding in the woods
Melissa Peters had pleaded no contest in February 2018 to neglect of a child with great bodily harm, a second-degree felony, and prosecutors dropped a more serious charge of aggravated child abuse. As part of her plea agreement, Peters agreed to testify against her husband.
In exchange for her plea, prosecutors recommended that she be sentenced to 15 years’ probation, which Abdoney imposed at the time of the plea, court records show.
Kris Peters was held in the Polk County Jail from the time of his arrest in November 2016 until March 2018, when he posted $20,000 bail after a circuit judge granted him pretrial release, according to court and jail records.
Suzie Schottelkotte can be reached at suzie.schottelkotte@theledger.com or 863-533-9070.