Utah Dad & His Bitch Starved 5YO "Thief" Who Had To Eat Play-Doh & Feces To Survive

[Sugar Cookie]

A West Valley City man and his girlfriend have been charged with child torture after prosecutors say they routinely starved the man’s 5-year-old daughter.

Daniel James Fivas, 32, and Jessica Marie Harmes, 44, each face one count of the first-degree felony, which can carry a sentence of five years to life in prison.

The West Valley City Police Department began investigating on Aug. 30 after David Fivas brought the 5-year-old girl to the hospital because she was "not gaining weight and would eat her own feces." Fivas allegedly said he gained custody of the girl when she was about 15 months old and has "steadily decreased on the growth chart."

Doctors noted the girl weighed about the same as a typical 16-month-old child. But after more than two weeks in the hospital with "consistent, scheduled meals" she gained nearly 9 pounds, the affidavit said.

Fivas said his daughter would eat until she vomited and would ingest non-food items such as Play-Doh and wax, the affidavit stated. He also claimed the girl would "steal" food from the refrigerator and pantry which caused them to put child locks on them. The defendant "thought she was a thief."

Investigators believe Fivas and Jessica Harmes were purposely withholding food from her. Fivas admitted that he "resented" the girl and did not treat her well. Another child was in the home and he was not starving, cops noted.

"Over the course of at least two years, the victim has been plummeting in health and growth," detectives wrote. "The defendants, angry that the victim was 'stealing food' that they were depriving her of, went a step further and put child safety locks on every cabinet and appliance that had food."

Cops don't believe that the girl was overeating, but rather trying to "save" herself by eating non-food items or scavenging for food when everyone was asleep, per the affidavit.

Fivas and Harmes allegedly tried to concoct the overeating story to keep detectives from learning what was really going on inside the home.

After Harmes became pregnant with their child, Fivas said he called the Department of Child and Family Services to give the victim up but they wouldn't take her.

"Harmes said that Fivas asked them to take custody of her because he didn't want her and didn't want to take care of her," the affidavit reads.

The starvation wasn't the only form of abuse the girl was suffering, cops said.

Detectives discovered she was forced to sleep on the ground with only a blanket. The defendants also did not put her in school, making police believe they were trying to isolate her. Another child in the home confirmed many of the allegations against the defendants, cops said.

Prosecutors during Fivas' bond hearing on Thursday called the incident extremely concerning and asked that he be kept in jail without bond.

"This is a matter of being deprived food and being prevented from stealing food," the prosecutor said. "Apparently, she was so hungry, she's still in diapers and eating her own feces. This is a little beyond just not taking care of a child or neglecting a child. This is intentionally harming this particular child."

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Dad, stepmom locked refrigerator to stop starving 5-year-old girl from eating food: Cops

A Utah father and his girlfriend are behind bars after they allegedly starved a 5-year-old girl to the point where she had to resort to eating her own feces and other non-food items such as Play-Doh.

lawandcrime.com

If his claims of trying to surrender the child are true the state of Utah should be sued on behalf of the child.

They need to lose custody of their child together without knowing who, what, where happens to the child.

According to court records, the child started gaining weight after being taken into state custody on a normal diet. Safe and Healthy Families reported the victim would hide food at first but eventually began to offer food to nursing staff and leave leftovers.

Fivas and Harmes told investigators the child would steal food from the fridge, freezer, trash and pantries, despite the child showing no signs of overeating in state care. In response, Fivas admitted to installing locks to prevent the child from stealing food, saying that they fed the child "portions for an adult."

Harmes was reportedly adamant about feeding the child plenty of food. She told investigators they were struggling for money and could not afford food, but there was never a time when the child went without.

While Fivas and Harmes both said they could not get the child to gain weight, neither could explain why the child gained weight at the hospital with normal food intake.

In addition to the locks, investigators said the child would also sleep on the floor of the apartment the family lived in with two other children. The other children reportedly slept in a bassinet and an air mattress. Fivas and Harmes allegedly mentioned there was a mattress available in storage but it was "too hard to get to" and there was "no room for it" in the apartment.

West Valley couple faces child torture charges, accused of starving 5-year-old child

A West Valley couple was taken into custody on Monday, accused of starving their 5-year-old child.Daniel James Fivas, 32, and Jessica Marie Harmes, 44, were bo

kutv.com

When deprived, the health care team added, children at that age “can attempt to ‘save’ themselves from things like starvation by scavenging food or eating non-food items.”

In time, they can also overcome revulsion to eating such items, doctors said. According to the documents, the girl at various times had eaten fecal matter, Play-Doh, moldy bread, melted wax and uncooked frozen foods.

The girl’s 13-year-old stepbrother told investigators his mother, Harmes, had the idea to put child locks on the refrigerator, freezer, pantry and garbage can to keep the girl from scouring them for food, court documents state.


Fivas told a West Valley City police detective after his arrest that he installed the child locks because the girl “liked to steal food.” He also disclosed that when he and Harmes learned Harmes was pregnant, he tried to give up custody of his daughter.

The girl had “rubbed him the wrong way,” he told investigators, and he “resented” her, court documents state.

A spokesperson with the Salt Lake County district attorney’s office could not say who currently has custody of the girl, her teen stepbrother or their infant half-sister, instead referring The Salt Lake Tribune to the Utah Division of Child and Family Services. That agency did not immediately reply to a request for comment.

Utah couple accused of torturing 5-year-old girl kept locks on fridge, prosecutors say

The West Valley City father told investigators he "resented" the girl he and his girlfriend are accused of routinely starving. The Utah couple is being held at the Salt Lake County jail.

www.sltrib.com

 

[the cat did it]

oh yeah @Sugar Cookie, if it's true that he tried to give her up but CPS would not take her I hope someone sues the crap out of them on behalf of this little girl. And whoever said "no" at CPS to taking her needs to be fired at a minimum! What that poor little one went thru....starvation is cruel, slow and deliberate. They even locked the garbage can so she could not search for nasty scraps?????? WTF?!?!?! That's attempted murder IMO-she is 5 and weighs the same as a 16 most old???

I hope she gets all the love care and food she needs and DESERVES

 

[DamagedGoods]

OK... in some parts of the story they refer to the girlfriend as the stepmom, and then in another they talk about how she was the one pregnant with the little girl and how he tried to contact CPS to give her up?

 

[420702]

Democrats.

 

[Sugar Cookie]

 

[BuffettGirl]

Daddy Dearest here needs to take a long, horrific, dirt nap...

 

[Sugar Cookie]

The damage these two have done to this girl is probably going to be lifelong not only physically but emotionally as well.

I hope the state finds a family that truly understands that this child must relearn to trust and feel secure and safe before she is able to connect with the family in any meaningful way.

Any acting out this girl does will be testing the foster parents and they need to understand that it has nothing to do with how the child feels about them.

 

[runninfawn]

i sure hope that cas finds a good foster home that has had training to deal with physically, mentally, emotionally or sexually abused children.... most foster families expect a child not to re-act in a negative way after being removed from their family or a foster home where they felt loved and cared for... they expect , especially an abused child, to love them instantly because they are providing a safe environment... some foster families learn from that while others just won't because they don't understand the children that comes into their care... i saw it too often where foster parents just give up on a child be it little ones, mid ones from about 6 or 7 y.o. to 12 y.o. and even worse when they are teens grrrrrrrrrrrrrr...