Arlan and Linda Kaufman appeared in U.S. District Court in Wichita with their ankles in shackles Wednesday as prosecutors announced that the couple was being charged with forcing mentally ill people into involuntary servitude -- slavery.
Federal Magistrate Judge Donald Bostwick ordered the Newton couple held without bond while authorities continued to investigate the bizarre case.
The charges stem from a 1999 incident in which people in the Kaufmans' care were found on a Potwin-area farm doing chores in the nude.
According to a federal affidavit made public Wednesday, an investigator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the Kaufmans used a stun gun on one of the people under their care, discouraged residents of their group homes from contacting family and friends, and controlled their medications and finances.
But according to an Eagle review of federal, state and county records, authorities knew as early as 1999 that something was wrong with how the Kaufmans were running their group homes for mentally ill people. Serious allegations of sexual, emotional and physical abuse have surfaced in government documents since 2001.
Rocky Nichols, executive director of Kansas Advocacy and Protective Services, a federally funded organization charged with protecting the rights of adults with mental and physical disabilities, contends that state officials were aware of the situation as early as 2000 but failed to act.
"You read through this stuff, and it's gut-wrenching," he said. "How did this happen? How did it get so bad?"
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/10033887.htm
Federal Magistrate Judge Donald Bostwick ordered the Newton couple held without bond while authorities continued to investigate the bizarre case.
The charges stem from a 1999 incident in which people in the Kaufmans' care were found on a Potwin-area farm doing chores in the nude.
According to a federal affidavit made public Wednesday, an investigator for the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services said the Kaufmans used a stun gun on one of the people under their care, discouraged residents of their group homes from contacting family and friends, and controlled their medications and finances.
But according to an Eagle review of federal, state and county records, authorities knew as early as 1999 that something was wrong with how the Kaufmans were running their group homes for mentally ill people. Serious allegations of sexual, emotional and physical abuse have surfaced in government documents since 2001.
Rocky Nichols, executive director of Kansas Advocacy and Protective Services, a federally funded organization charged with protecting the rights of adults with mental and physical disabilities, contends that state officials were aware of the situation as early as 2000 but failed to act.
"You read through this stuff, and it's gut-wrenching," he said. "How did this happen? How did it get so bad?"
http://www.kansas.com/mld/kansas/news/local/10033887.htm