Story by Staff Reports
A Greeley woman who made headlines this week for taking a vacation to Italy and leaving her six children home alone has a history of child abuse in the Denver area.
Jennifer Aillese Farrell, 33, also has been an Aims Community College student since the fall, studying marketing and management, Aims officials said Thursday.
On Feb. 3, she left on a vacation with her boyfriend and is due back Monday, according to Greeley police. She left her six children at their home in the 2400 block of 17th Avenue, with the oldest, a 14-year-old girl, in charge.
Police, responding to an anonymous call Feb. 4, took custody of the children and turned them over to the Department of Social Services. That agency placed the children in foster homes. Some of the children reportedly were placed with the husband's aunt in the Denver area, but neither the police nor Social Services would confirm that.
Calls to the father and the aunt Thursday were not returned.
The father of the children lives in Thornton. A restraining order allows him to visit the children only if a social services worker is present.
In divorce papers filed in Weld County Court, the couple fired accusations back and forth; they both claim the other is abusing the children.
However, a child abuse investigation against the father in 1999 was unfounded, according to the Weld County Sheriff's office, and no charges were filed.
The mother pleaded guilty to child abuse in 1995 and 1991 in the Denver area, but court records are sealed.
In 2000, the couple was divorced in Weld County Court. Judge Roger Klein gave custody to the mother and issued a restraining order against the father. Through his lawyer, the father has continuously fought the order.
In one document, the father stated: It is unfounded "that the abuse was a daily occurrence and that she and the children were in imminent danger for their life or health."
He stated he has cared for the children several times while the mother left the state to visit her mother for several days. He also said he stayed with the children alone one night every week while the mother attended her "Moms Club."
In that letter, he also cites the mother's history of abuse arrests.
Farrell reportedly left the children with milk, bread, $7 and a credit card for buying more food, said Greeley police Sgt. John Gates. She also reportedly left a document authorizing medical care if the children needed it, Gates said.
Gates said police haven't heard from the mother, and they don't know if she even has knowledge of what has happened with her children since she left.
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