Parents arrested in Kansas for tying up kids left trail of financial, legal problems

June 15--A suburban Chicago couple remained behind bars this morning after their two youngest children were found bound and blindfolded in a bizarre incident that unfolded outside a shopping center in Lawrence, Kan., authorities said.

Adolfo and Deborah Gomez are being held on $50,000 bail on felony child abuse and aggravated endangerment charges.

Douglas County Judge James George forbade the couple from having contact with their five children, ages 4 to 15. Authorities said the children were not physically injured and have been placed in protective custody.

Police believe the family was heading to Arizona to visit relatives but experienced automotive problems Monday in Kansas.

On Wednesday, a shopper called 911 after spotting one of the restrained children in the rear of a Wal-Mart parking lot in Lawrence, police said.

Lawrence police Sgt. Trent McKinley said officers found the 4-year-old boy and his sister, 7, crouched outside of the family's Chevrolet SUV. The children had their hands tied behind their backs and their legs bound, and a blindfold covered their eyes, he said.

"I've never personally come in contact with a situation where children had been bound," McKinley said. "It's just one of those things that you wonder what would have happened if this witness had not called the police."

Three other children -- 12- and 14-year-old girls and a 15-year-old boy -- were unrestrained. They locked themselves inside the SUV, which had clothing, cardboard and other items stacked across the windows, blocking any view inside. Officers coaxed them out after about an hour.

McKinley said Adolfo Gomez, 52, had to be Tasered when he tried to break free. Deborah Gomez, 43, was arrested inside the store about 10 minutes later.

Kendall Marlowe, a spokesman with the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services, said the agency is working with child-welfare officials in Kansas to track down relatives with whom to place the children.

Marlowe said DCFS investigated both parents in November 2011 on an allegation of child neglect that was not serious enough to remove the children from their home.

Court records in Illinois show the parents left behind a trail of financial and legal problems.

The family most recently rented a Northlake apartment but, according to public records, moved often throughout DuPage and Cook counties. They were evicted at least twice, including once in 2009 in Wood Dale, records show.

Former landlord Emilio Ochoa said he rented a basement apartment to the family for three years in Wood Dale.

Ochoa said he found padlocks on the bedroom doors. He often heard the father yelling and the children crying, but he never saw any evidence of physical abuse, he said.

"The older boys did all the cooking after getting food from local churches," he said. "They would tell us they can't wait to get older and leave."

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Deborah Gomez was placed on court supervision in October 1998 after she plead guilty to misdemeanor endangering the life of a child, records show. She admitted leaving two sons, then 2 and 3, home alone for eight hours in March 1998 when the family lived in a Naperville apartment, records show.

Adolfo Gomez was released from prison in January 1984 after serving part of a three-year sentence for burglary and theft.

Gomez pleaded guilty after a November 2007 drunken driving arrest in Lombard, court records show.

He was sentenced to 12 days in the DuPage County Jail earlier this year after failing to pay fines and comply with other court orders.

Tribune freelance writer Joe Ruzich contributed.

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