Wednesday, May 27, 1998

Lesson seems lost amid the tears

By Bob Greene

CHILTON, Wis. -- If there is a lesson here, it is hard to find it.

On Friday afternoon, Angeline Rogers, 28, pleaded guilty to four felony counts of child abuse in connection with the alleged caging of her then-7-year-old daughter, the alleged beatings of the girl and her brothers, the alleged withholding of food from the children.

It was a plea agreement; originally she had been charged with 10 felony counts, with a possible sentence of 95 years. Calumet County District Atty. Ken Kratz allowed her to plead to the reduced charges so her children -- including the little girl who Brillion, Wis., police found in the basement dog cage -- will not have to go through the trauma of testifying. Mrs. Rogers' husband, Michael, also 28, already had accepted a similar plea agreement. The five Rogers children remain in four separate foster homes.

And the lesson in all of this?

The lesson in the pain those children have endured?

You might think the lesson would be that no child should ever be made to suffer in this way again, that the agony of that little girl and her brothers should send out the message all over Wisconsin, all over the United States: No more. This kind of cruelty to children will not be tolerated in our society.

Yet that does not appear to be the lesson that some adults are taking from the news of what happened here.

In the months since Mr. and Mrs. Rogers were arrested on Nov. 17, the freezing night their 11-year-old son walked barefoot, coatless and in tears to the Brillion police station seeking help for his sister and brothers, these incidents have taken place in this part of Wisconsin:

n In Outagamie County, Timothy Mutterer, 37, was arrested and charged with beating three of his children, ages 9, 8 and 6. A social worker who treats the 6-year-old -- an autistic child -- noticed bruising on the boy's buttocks.

Mutterer's wife told police that her husband hit the 8-year-old on the back because the child could not pronounce a word, and that the autistic child broke his elbow when Mutterer pushed him off a television stand. Police said Mutterer told them he hits the 9-year-old an average of once a week, the 8-year-old two to five times a week, the 6-year-old once a week, a 5-year-old twice a week, and a 3-year-old two to three times a week.

Mutterer's wife told police that as her husband was striking their 9-year-old daughter, he told the girl, "What you're going to get is mild, compared to what the girl got in Brillion" -- an apparent reference to the child who was found in the dog cage.

n In Dodge County, Dawn S. Weber, 23, was arrested after police found her 21¼2-year-old son locked in the trunk of her car while she worked in a factory.

Police said Weber left the little boy in the car trunk in the factory's parking lot while she worked her shift inside. The temperature was 33 degrees when Mayville police officer Kim Mittelstedt found the boy in the trunk.

The child was crying out for his mother from inside the trunk, the officer testified. The officer pried open the trunk -- and found the boy, wearing a coat and jeans, sobbing as he sat next to a toy tractor, a pair of mittens, and a kerosene lantern.

Weber told police she locked the boy in the car trunk because she couldn't find a baby-sitter.

n In Manitowoc County, Theresa Langlois, 34, was arrested and charged with beating her young daughters -- ages 4, 6, 8 and 9 -- with a hockey stick and coat hangers and with forcing the girls to brush their teeth with Comet household cleanser.

Two Rivers police officers said when the girls were caught brushing their teeth with regular toothpaste, their mother would punish them by making them brush with the abrasive Comet cleanser.

-- In Winnebago County, Terry Dean Mueller, 33, pleaded guilty to 21 counts of sexual crimes against children -- boys who were placed in his home for protective foster care.

One of the charges Mueller, a licensed foster parent, pleaded guilty to involved placing a dog-training shock collar around a boy's neck. Mueller had originally been charged with 92 counts of crimes against his foster children, but was allowed to plead guilty to the 21 counts so that his victims would not be forced to testify.

Now the children of Michael and Angeline Rogers will be spared from having to testify in front of strangers about what was done to them. Mr. and Mrs. Rogers, each now facing up to 40 years in prison, will be sentenced by Judge Steven Weinke sometime this summer.

Regardless of what happens to any of the adults in these cases, you think of the boys and girls who, through no fault of their own, are the helpless, voiceless victims, and you ask yourself whether, in any sense of the word, these children have a prayer.

Bob Greene's complete coverage of this case is available at www.chicago.tribune.com/go/greene

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