'Horrific' abuse case prompts Hennepin County review

Hennepin County is launching a comprehensive review of how a case in Minneapolis that involved years of abuse of two developmentally-disabled twins was handled. The county has so far said little about the case, which Hennepin County Attorney Mike Freeman described as one of the most horrific of his career.

The now 21-year-old twins told investigators they were often chained to the door of their parents' bedroom in a south Minneapolis home. They were deprived of food, beaten and sexually assaulted. An 11-year-old sister told investigators she was hit in the head with a golf club.

The father, Jerry Lee Curry, 52, is jailed in Hennepin County on one charge of child endangerment and eight felony charges ranging from stalking to rape. The twins' mother, Shelia Wilson, 48, is charged with criminal neglect of her three daughters.

The county's review process will involve the state of Minnesota, and has been used a handful of times to review cases in Hennepin County starting last fall, said deputy county administrator Jennifer DeCubellis. The results of the review could lead to anything from legislative proposals to changes to the county's programs, she said.

"It really does take a systemic look at the decisions that were made," DeCubellis said. "'How did the system work? Did it work as we intended it to work? And if not, what is getting in the way?'"

Shannon Remer and other neighbors of the Curry household said they called 911 numerous times after witnessing some disturbing scenes at the home.

"At one point, I called 911 because they locked the girls outside in their bras and underwear," Remer said. They were "ashamed, humiliated. They wouldn't make eye contact, wouldn't look at you, wouldn't engage."

Records show that police were called to the home 53 times from August 2011 through June 2017. A spokesperson for the Minneapolis Police Department declined to comment because it involves an active case, but referred MPR News to policies that require sworn employees to report abuse or neglect.

"I cited some pretty horrific things in my report, and nobody did anything," Remer said.

Records show that Hennepin County child and adult protection workers opened and then closed two cases into Wilson and Curry after reports of abuse.

DeCubellis, who heads up Hennepin County's human services, said her heart goes out to anybody who has been abused. But she can't comment on individual cases for privacy reasons.

"What we can speak to is the system and how the system works," she said, "as well as do our own quality reviews to make sure that we did everything possible we could do within those statutory guidelines to keep our community safe."

When child or adult protection misses something, it's because they don't have access to all the information that's been reported to other agencies, DeCubellis said.

"So the police might have some information, human services might have other pieces, education might have other pieces, neighbors and community might have others," DeCubellis said. "We have some limitations on where we have visibility to that information, and how can we data share."

The county is trying to address this limitation in a pilot program in Brooklyn Park, where social workers are embedded with police.

The child protection system and its workers in Hennepin County also face an increasing workload, partly due to fallout from the opioid epidemic. The number of child protection reports submitted to Hennepin County doubled in the last five years. In 2017, the county received more than 20,000 child protection reports and investigated more than 4,000 families.

"It's easy to say that child protection isn't doing what everybody hoped but child protection has not been funded to do what we'd all like to be doing," DeCubellis said. "The system is stretched to meet all rules and requirements."

DeCubellis said it's become increasingly apparent that the way the county has historically handled child protection was unsustainable. She's in the second year of a five-year plan to overhaul the county's operations, to intervene with families before abuse happens.

Remer, the neighbor, feels like the system didn't work in the case of this family.

"There were so many agencies that failed this family and those kids that it's just unbelievable," Remer said. "You can call and complain, but at a certain point, you stop calling and complaining because nobody does anything."

Wilson and Curry are both being held in Hennepin County Jail. Curry is scheduled to appear in court later this month. Wilson's attorney had a meeting with the prosecutor and the judge on Thursday, and is scheduled for another court hearing in April.

The twins, both of whom have court-appointed guardians, are receiving care at Twin Cities facilities.The 11-year-old daughter is in foster care, as are the 3-year-old boy and baby girl — both children of one of the twins. Protection orders have been filed against Wilson and Curry.