Posted on 02/14/2003 3:39:04 AM PST by Pat Bateman
Real-life 'Home Alone' angers
By Joe Garner, Rocky Mountain News
February 14, 2003
GREELEY - Townspeople are outraged about a mother who left six young children home alone while she went to Italy with her boyfriend.
Jennifer Farrell, 33, put her 14-year-old daughter in charge of the five younger children, gave them a list of emergency contacts, filled the refrigerator with food and left a credit card and $7 cash.
"Everyone is floored. She has absolutely no conscience," said Cathy Davis, a mother of three and grandmother of four who doesn't know Farrell. "I don't think she deserves to be a mother.
"You don't leave children under 18 alone, especially today," Davis said. "The world is a scary place."
The Rev. Rob Crust said his heart goes out to the kids. The youth minister at Bethel Baptist Church, where the oldest three children attended Tuesday night programs, said the mother "is living for herself and not the kids, but they are having to pay the price."
Greeley investigators have not located the woman or her traveling companion, said police Sgt. John Gates.
"It's not even pinned down that she is in Italy, beyond that's what she told the children," Gates said.
Farrell also told her children she would be gone about two weeks, which would mean she would return next week.
The mother "remains the focus of the investigation," Gates said.
Investigators also have identified the boyfriend, but, "based on what we know now, it would be doubtful he would be charged with anything," Gates said. Gates declined to identify the man.
"Our primary concern all along has been the care and safety of the children," he said. The other children are ages 12, 11, 10, 8 and 6.
Steven Farrell of Thornton is the father of four of the children, documents in Weld County District Court indicate. Jennifer Farrell divorced Steven Farrell in May 2000, after they'd separated the year before, according to court records.
Since the divorce, their file is filled with various allegations and competing claims and counterclaims about visitation and conditions under which the children live.
Jennifer Farrell's six children were taken to two different foster homes Feb. 4, the day after she allegedly departed, after police received an anonymous tip.
When they were at church functions, the children "seemed eager to be loved," but they were well-fed and their clothes "were as clean as any other junior high kids' clothes," Crust said. "There were no real signs on the surface anything was wrong, but there are other things the kids told me that I can't go into."
The mother, who never attends church events, "lived on government programs," Crust said.
Mark Pinkus, a next-door neighbor in the row of small homes near the Denver Broncos preseason practice field, said the Farrell house "always had lots of kids around, and there was never any supervision."
Pinkus described Farrell's boyfriend as "an older guy - in his 60s - who drove a big white car like a Pontiac Grand Prix with mag wheels and wore . . . cowboy boots."
After Farrell's dog chased his cats and the children allegedly shot paintballs at his house, "We managed to keep our distance," Pinkus said.
"I think she tried to make the best of her situation," he said. "These kids were not in that bad of shape."
Another neighbor, Bob Sliwinski, said there was "never anything suspicious about them to make a red flag go up.
"I never had any problems with them," Sliwinski said. "The children were polite. They'd come by and wave and say 'hello.' "
In a court filing last November, Jennifer Farrell urged the court to keep Steven Farrell's visits to the children under mandated supervision, saying he "is still considered a threat to the children."
For his part, in requesting a change in his parenting time, Steven Farrell claimed that one of his daughters had been physically abused by an exchange student living in the home and that his son and two daughters had been sexually molested by a half-brother.
"Ms. Farrell mentions that if someone were to question her parenting skills, it would only be to manipulate this court and the sanctity that this court represents," Steven Farrell said in a document filed about three months ago. "Which could not be further from the truth."
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.
http://www.greeleytrib.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?Site=GR&Date=20030214&Category=NEWS&ArtNo=302140005&Ref=AR
She's 33 and already has 6 kids, what kind of work does she do to support 6 kids at that age?
Maybe her boyfriend is Tarik Azziz and she's accompaning him on his visit to the Pope this weekend.
Sooo.. many questions come to mind..
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