DeLeon jailed for violating rules

COLVILLE – Carole DeLeon’s tears started to flow Tuesday when she realized a court hearing on delaying her upcoming trial had turned into her arrest for violating a judge’s orders.

She cried so hard she shook as a detective moved to take her away to the Stevens County Jail to await trial on whether she starved her adoptive son to death and criminally mistreated another boy in her care.

According to court records, DeLeon, 52, has been using the help of an investigator with the Child Protective Services to deliver cards, toys, clothes, books, candy, cookies, toothpaste and shampoo to DeLeon’s other adoptive son and daughter, who may be called to testify against her.

“It is troubling,” Stevens County Superior Court Judge Al Nielson said. “We have a situation here where the court order has been violated, and that goes to the heart of the state’s case.”

Nielson then ordered DeLeon to remain in jail until her trial, which has not officially been scheduled.

Her attorney, Carl Oreskovich, lashed out at Nielson’s ruling, arguing that she was simply following the directions of CPS investigator Dwayne Thurman, who delivered the goods to the children on DeLeon’s behalf.

“It was a terrible decision and I intend to appeal it,” Oreskovich said. “It’s a really harsh penalty … to come in here and say ‘jail her’ for an absolute misunderstanding and a misunderstanding in part that was facilitated by CPS. That’s just not fair.”

Stevens County Deputy Prosecutor David Turplesmith said DeLeon’s communications had the potential to taint testimony from her adoptive children, who were taken out of her care after she was charged with felony murder in the death of Tyler DeLeon.

“She cannot simply hide behind a misunderstanding,” Turplesmith said. “Ms. DeLeon’s communication has been a detriment to these children, and it has been a detriment to this case.”

The investigation into DeLeon started when Tyler DeLeon died Jan. 13, 2005, his seventh birthday. The dead boy weighed 28 pounds, 12 pounds more than he weighed at the age of 6 months, when he was placed by the state in DeLeon’s care, according to state records.

DeLeon is accused of severely restricting her son’s water and food intake, to the point of locking the bathroom door at night and installing a baby monitor to prevent him and a foster child from getting drinks. She also told school employees not to allow Tyler to have water.

School officials and state social workers documented injuries on Tyler, including bruises, cuts, a broken leg and missing teeth.

The other child was removed from DeLeon’s care in 2004. Four months later, he had gained 18 pounds and had gone from being in the fifth percentile for height and weight to the 95th percentile for children his age.

Stevens County Prosecutor Tim Rasmussen said he will file an order soon asking Judge Nielson to join both cases so they are heard at the same trial.

If convicted, DeLeon could be sentenced to 11 to 19 1/2 years in prison. And if a jury determines that DeLeon acted with deliberate cruelty, that sentence could be increased to life.

DeLeon has pleaded innocent on both charges. Until Tuesday, she had been free on $20,000 bail since July.

But just two weeks after Nielson issued the July 25th no-contact order, which included no third-party contact, DeLeon asked Thurman, at CPS, to deliver a box of school supplies to her adoptive son. Those contacts, through Thurman, continued until late December.

“There is nothing in these records that suggest she did anything other than give a child a birthday card or a birthday present or send the children school supplies,” Oreskovich said. “This is not someone who had the intent to willfully go out and violate a court order.

“Quite frankly she did it with the permission and supervision of a caseworker who also didn’t understand this was a violation of the court order.”

However, Turplesmith, the Stevens County deputy prosecutor, pointed to the affidavit supporting DeLeon’s arrest, detailing the effect her contact has had on her adoptive son: “Thurman’s entry on this day states he spoke with (the boy’s) stepmother who told him, ‘After (he) received his box from Carole he came and woke up his father at 2 a.m. and told him that she was going to get loose and kill him. … (The boy) was very scared for the next couple of days. (He) has not had any outbursts or issues of hurting people or others until he receives gifts or things that remind him of Carole.”

Rasmussen said Thurman has not been charged but remains under investigation for his role in transferring the gifts and notes to the children.

Connie Lambert-Eckel, who is the deputy regional administrator for the local division of the Department of Children and Family Services, said Thurman has not been disciplined for his role in the DeLeon case.

“We want to look at all the facts before we draw any conclusions or take any steps regarding the worker’s role in this,” she said.

Oreskovich said he felt blindsided by the arrest Tuesday because he came to court on the understanding that Nielson was simply holding a status hearing on the case. He acknowledged previously discussing with Rasmussen DeLeon’s communications with the children.

But Oreskovich said he spoke with Rasmussen on Friday and Monday, and the prosecutor never once mentioned that he was seeking DeLeon’s arrest. “It’s a trap and it’s unfair,” Oreskovich said.

Rasmussen said he had his own reasons for not alerting Oreskovich about the pending arrest warrant for DeLeon.

“The judge wanted it served the way it was served,” Rasmussen said. “I didn’t feel obligated to tell Carl (Oreskovich). She may not have shown up.”