Wash couple charged with mistreating daughter, 14

A father and stepmother were charged with withholding their 14-year-old daughter's food and water so drastically that she weighed only 48 pounds, authorities said.

Jon Pomeroy, 43, and his wife, Rebecca Long, 44, could face as much as four years in prison if convicted of criminal mistreatment, King County prosecutor's spokesman Dan Donohoe said. The couple were released on bail late Monday after the charges were brought.

The girl was removed from the family home near Carnation, 21 miles east of Seattle, in August after a neighbor called child welfare authorities.

"The detective that investigated has been a special assault detective for 16 years. He investigates elder abuse, child abuse and sex assault crimes. He said this is the worst case he's ever seen, especially for an ongoing pattern of abuse over several years," said county sheriff's spokesman John Urquhart.

According to prosecutors, Long confirmed to a deputy that she considered the girl a behavior problem and restricted her water as discipline. The woman said she had been home-schooling the girl and her 12-year-old brother for four years.

The girl, who is 4 feet 7 inches tall, told authorities that she was given primarily toast to eat and only half a small cup of water per day. Charging papers say she drank about 6 ounces a day. She said her stepmother even watched when she brushed her teeth to make sure she didn't drink extra water.

She suffered severe malnutrition and dehydration and spent two weeks at Children's Hospital in Seattle. Dentists had to extract six teeth because of long-term decay, court papers said.

She is now in foster care and has gained more than 20 pounds, prosecutors said. Her foster father said she is attending a private school and making friends.

The boy, whose height and weight were normal, was also placed in foster care, authorities said.

It was not immediately known if the couple had lawyers. No one answered the door Monday at their home.

Pomeroy, a computer software engineer, had divorced the girl's mother in the 1990s, The Seattle Times reported.

In a court affidavit, a detective said the father told him the conflict between his daughter and wife "was concerning but he thought they could just handle it themselves." Pomeroy admitted he never sought professional help for the girl even though he noticed she looked far younger than 14.

Even the family's two dogs were fed normally and had recently been taken to the vet, authorities said.

Child Protective Services had investigated the family in 2005, and the stepmother received counseling. "There were similar issues with the girl's weight. Obviously, it was not as extreme," CPS spokesman Thomas Shapley told the newspaper.

Riverview School District Superintendent Conrad Robertson said the girl had been enrolled in an alternative program for homeschooled students, attending district classes once a week. When a teacher contacted police and state authorities to report concerns on March 4, 2005, the girl stopped attending and her parents withdrew her from the program, he said.

"Once they go to homeschooling, we have no more contact," Robertson told the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.

Parents who homeschool children are required by state law to file a form each year with their local school district, but the parents had no contact with the district after March 2005, said Nathan Olson, spokesman for the state Office of the Superintendent of Public Instruction.

"It's safe to say that they were not adhering to state law," he told the P-I.