Editor’s Note: This news article contains graphic details and may be upsetting to some GANT News readers.
CLEARFIELD – A Houtzdale couple is facing criminal charges after being accused of physically and emotionally torturing their six adopted children for several years.
Timothy D. Krause, 52, and Barbara J. Krause, 50, have been charged by Trooper David Patrick of the Clearfield-based state police with six felony counts each of aggravated assault, conspiracy/aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children and conspiracy/endangering the welfare of children.
The Krause’s have also been charged with six misdemeanor counts each of simple assault and recklessly endangering another person; two misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats; and six summaries.
Timothy and Barbara Krause waived their rights to preliminary hearings during centralized court Wednesday at the Clearfield County Jail. Their bail has been set at $5,000 unsecured.
The couple’s children currently range in age with the oldest being 16 years old and the youngest being 12 years old. They reported being abused between 2011 and the current-year at their home to the Child Advocacy Center of Clearfield County and Geisinger Medical Center, Danville.
According to court documents filed with Magisterial District Judge James Glass’ office, the Krause’s beat their children with paddles, a walking stick, a board and back scratchers.
Beatings with the paddle were allegedly so severe that the children’s buttocks would bleed, and it could be seen through their underwear.
Beatings with the walking stick would cause knots or lumps to form on their heads. The children’s hands were also beaten with a board until their knuckles would bleed, state police said.
As forms of punishment, the Krause’s allegedly deprived their children of multiple meals for not doing their chores or misbehaving, and the children were forced to sit in an awkward “half-way” position and to do “up-downs” for extended periods.
According to court documents, the six siblings had to share the same bedroom in a three-bedroom home, and two of the children had to sleep on very thin mats on the floor.
The Krause’s had also home-schooled their children for the past few years. In a report, a Geisinger Medical Center doctor wrote that the children were “lacking in academics and are one to two years behind.”
The 15-year-old currently has multiple scars on his chest, abdomen, legs and arms. He said one scar on his chest was from a dog bite, and it wasn’t unusual to be “paddled” 30-40 times on one occurrence. He said his mother also threatened to “slit his throat” with an axe while he was sleeping.
The 14-year-old said anytime his parents would get the stick out, the dogs were trained to “attack” whoever was nearby. He had multiple bite marks and scars on his legs and arms.
He said he was paddled on his right buttocks until an abscess formed, which he had to lance himself. His medical records noted multiple scars on his right buttocks, as well.
The other 14-year-old reported being beaten with a paddle 58 times on one occurrence. He said he was beaten multiple other times and threatened to have his throat slit at night.
He said his parents hit him on his face and nose area, which caused bleeding, and he had a scar on his back from being beaten with a stick.
The 13-year-old said her parents threatened her with a gun and axe, and she was paddled on her bare buttocks until it was black and blue. She also had multiple scars on her arms and legs from dog bites.
The 16-year-old said he was threatened by his mother with the edge of an axe placed on his neck. He said he was also threatened to be shot; on one occurrence, he was paddled 30 times and to the point his buttocks was black and blue and he couldn’t sit down.
The 12-year-old said that his mother threatened to shoot him if he touched the phone after he called police to report the abuse.
He said he was once paddled on the buttocks 49 times, and had bleeding from the punishment. He now has numerous scars on his arms, legs and other areas from dog bites.
In his opinion following an assessment of the children, Dr. Pat J. Bruno, M.D., Geisinger Medical Center, wrote: “With a reasonable degree of medical certainty, the children were physically abused and tortured by their parents.”