3 UNNAMED FOSTER CHILDREN - Ages not given - (2010) / Charged: Foster parents, John and Carolyn Jackson - Mount Holly, NJ

Army major, wife accused of abusing foster children in New Jersey freed on $250,000 bail

Published May 02, 2013
Associated Press

NEWARK, N.J. – An Army major and his wife accused in New Jersey of abusing their three foster children are free on $250,000 bail each.

John and Carolyn Jackson of Mount Holly appeared in federal court Thursday
in Newark. They were ordered to have no contact with children.

The couple allegedly abused the children while John Jackson was stationed
at the Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County from 2007 to 2012. Prosecutors
say the couple broke bones, withheld food and forced the children to
eat hot sauce and peppers.

The two were indicted on 17 counts including endangerment, assault and conspiracy.

The children are now in custody of New Jersey's Children and Families
Department. One of the children died in 2008, but the death was
determined not to be caused by abuse or neglect.


http://www.foxnews.com/us/2013/05/02/army-major-wife-accused-abusing-foster-children-in-new-jersey-freed-on-250000/

New Jersey couple posts bail in federal child abuse case

Thursday, May 02, 2013

NEWARK, N.J. - May 2, 2013 (WPVI) --
An Army major and his wife accused in New Jersey of abusing their three foster children are free on $250,000 bail each.


They arrived back at their townhouse just before 6:00 p.m. and were surrounded by cameras and reporters.
"No comment," John Jackson told reporters before entering his home.

John and Carolyn Jackson will be confined to their house here in Mount
Holly, that is just one of many restrictions a federal judge imposed
when he released them.
The judge ordered them to be
fitted with electronic ankle bracelets and on Thursday night, two
officers arrived at the home to do just that.
The court also ordered that they have no direct or indirect contact with children.
The Jacksons' lawyers had nothing to say as they left federal court in Newark earlier in the day.
In court, they argued the couple should be freed on bail because
they're not likely to flee and are not a risk to the community.
Judge Mark Falk countered that they're clearly a risk to their children.
John and Carolyn Jackson were arrested Tuesday on a 17 count indictment charging them with horrific acts of child abuse.
The Jacksons have three biological children and three adopted foster children.
A grand jury found the Jacksons starved the foster children and
subjected them to harsh discipline that resulted in broken bones.
They also allegedly force fed them hot peppers and large amounts of salt while refusing to let them drink water.
The grand jury says one child suffered life threatening dehydration.
The alleged abuse happened over a five year period until the state removed the children from the Jackson home in 2010.
Since then the government says the Jacksons have violated the
restrictions imposed by family court, including unsupervised visits and
sleepovers.

One of the foster children died at the age of two in 2008.
The government says the child had also been abused, but at the time,
state investigators ruled the death was not caused by abuse.

Judge Falk today appointed third party custodians for the children
and ordered the Jacksons to have no direct or indirect contact with them
while they're free on bail.
The Jacksons had been fighting
the state trying to get their children back over the past three years.
Now, they're facing criminal charges that could send them to jail for a
long time.
This is a federal case because John Jackson is a
Major in the Army and the abuse allegedly happened on a military base
in North Jersey.

http://abclocal.go.com/wpvi/story?section=news/local&id=9088083

Prosecutor: Army major, wife abused adopted kids

October 17, 2014, 6:53 AM    Last updated: Friday, October 17, 2014, 11:40 PM

By KAREN SUDOL
Staff Writer | 
The Record





CHRIS PEDOTA/staff photographer

Army Maj. John E. Jackson and his wife, Carolyn, leaving court in Newark after opening statements in their child abuse trial. Some of the alleged crimes occurred at Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County.


When people met Army Maj. John E. Jackson and his wife, Carolyn, they were impressed by them. The couple “presented well” to the outside world. And they seemed engaged with their six children, three of whom were adopted.

But it was a different story behind closed doors, where the adopted children were malnourished, beaten and burned, a federal prosecutor said Friday during the start of a trial that has received nationwide attention for its horrific allegations of child abuse.

The couple engaged in a systematic pattern of abuse and neglect of their three young adopted children, then lied to health care workers about the origin of their children’s injuries when they sought medical attention for them, Assistant U.S. Attorney Joseph Shumofsky told a jury during opening statements before U.S. District Judge Katharine Hayden in Newark.

The Jacksons, of Mount Holly, face a 17-count indictment that charges them with abusing the adopted children — two girls and a boy — between August 2005 and April 2010, when the children were removed from the home. They are charged in federal court because some of the crimes occurred at the Picatinny Arsenal in Morris County, where they lived from 2007 through 2012. A jury of 18, including six alternates, is hearing the case.

The children were abused on a daily basis for minor infractions such as walking and eating too slowly or putting their fingers in their mouths, Shumofsky said. They were beaten with paddles, sticks and hands, force-fed hot sauce and pepper flakes, and told to eat onions as if they were apples. One child was fed excessive sodium while fluid intake was restricted, causing her to suffer from hypernatremia, a life-threatening condition. The boy, who died in 2008, had to have his finger amputated due to gangrene. His death is being investigated.

The abuse left the children malnourished, with scars, broken bones and burns scattered throughout their bodies, Shumofsky said.

The Jacksons are charged with 13 endangering counts, three assault counts and a single count of conspiracy to endanger the welfare of a child. Both face maximum penalties of 10 years in prison if convicted of each of the 17 counts and $250,000 fines.

They no longer have custody of any of their children.

At one point, the couple’s eldest biological child confronted his father, asking him to stop the beatings of his adopted siblings. His father said it was not the boy’s place to question how the other children were disciplined and that the children were being trained.
That child, now 16 and who confided in a family friend about the abuse, is expected to take the stand to describe what he witnessed.

Shumofsky also said that while Carolyn Jackson, 34, was the primary disciplinarian, her husband also disciplined and physically abused the children. Both parents determined which methods of punishment would be used, the prosecutor said.

When the two girls were removed from the Jackson home, they gained weight, their wounds healed and they did not suffer any other broken bones, the federal prosecutor said. The jury will not hear about the May 2008 death of the adopted boy; the judge determined it would be prejudicial and confusing to the panelists. But federal prosecutors said in court months ago that a grand jury was investigating whether to charge the couple with the boy’s death. A U.S. Attorney’s Office spokeswoman would not comment on the status of that investigation.

Carolyn Jackson’s lawyer, Rubin Sinins, said that while she |wouldn’t win the “mother of the year” award, she never intended to harm her children.

“A lot of what you hear about their parenting decisions may well be questionable,” said Sinins. “But the evidence will not show that Carolyn and John Jackson conspired to abuse their adopted children. The evidence will not show that they knowingly, intentionally and willfully endangered their children.”

He said the evidence would show that Carolyn Jackson was an overwhelmed mother of a large family with a husband who was often away. And she may have been too proud to ask for help, Sinins said.

“But being wrong and stubborn doesn’t make you a criminal,” he said. “She did not intend to harm, she acted in good faith.”

Sinins also said Carolyn Jackson was constantly running to doctors or hospitals with the three children, who had serious medical problems.

Sinins and Carol Gillen, an assistant federal public defender representing John Jackson, 38, said the couple took in the two girls, whose mother — a relative of Carolyn Jackson’s — could not provide for them. Gillen also told the jury that the medical experts the government planned to call to testify that the children’s injuries were tied to abuse had never treated or even seen them.

As for John Jackson, Gillen said he may not have been the perfect father, husband or soldier but that he tried to lead a principled life and instill values in his children.

“At the end of this case, the government will not be able to prove that they conspired to abuse and neglect their children,” she said.
“What they agreed to do is love, care for and provide for their children.”

The trial will resume on Tuesday and is expected to last six to eight weeks.

http://www.northjersey.com/news/prosecutor-army-major-wife-abused-adopted-kids-1.1111774#sthash.t3E9rVn7.dpuf