Jonathan Allen, 29, pleaded not guilty to nine counts of felony torture and six counts of felony child abuse on Monday.
Allen is being held on a more-than $5 million bail, while his wife Ina Rogers is free on $10,000 bail. Like him, she denies the allegations of torture and abuse, even after “the children described incidents of intentional abuse resulting in puncture wounds, burns, bruising and injuries consistent with being shot with a pellet gun or airsoft gun,” according to Fairfield Police Lt. Greg Hurlbut.
“Officers located unsafe and unsanitary living conditions including garbage and spoiled food on the floor, animal and human feces and a large amount of debris making areas of the house unpassable,” Hurlbut said. If not for the couple’s own reports of a missing child, the children might still be suffering in those conditions today.
The investigation subsequent to the return of the Allens’ missing 12-year-old son revealed “a long and continuous history of severe physical and emotional abuse of the children,” with claims stretching as far back as 2014. Still, Rogers maintains their innocence. Despite the “sadistic” treatment that Solano County prosecutor Sharon Henry said the children described, Rogers was unapologetic. “My husband is an amazing person,” she said, “I am an amazing mother. I am not going to allow this to break us and I’m not going to stop fighting.”
“I am horrified by the statements that were given by these children,” Henry said. “We have the children first and foremost in our minds. And as a parent, first and foremost in my heart.” The only silver lining to this tragic tale is that those children are, at least for now, free of their self-proclaimed “amazing” parents.
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