Civil suit emerges from abuse case

PALMER -- Amid mounting abuse charges in the criminal case against Patrick and Sherry Kelley, a civil case is emerging between the children's adoptive grandparents and a relative who has been taking care of the five children since July.

George and Shirley Long live on a lot adjacent to the Kelleys and, according to a petition for a protective order filed against George Long by Sherry Kelley's sister, Sandra Forman, last week, knew about and participated in the abuse of the children.

Court documents connected with the case, as well as eyewitness accounts, are beginning to shed more light on the family life of the Longs and the Kelleys and the environment in which the children lived for the last four years.

In a letter Forman wrote with the petition for protective order and filed Sept. 7, she claims that in the past George Long abused his wife, Shirley, and his five daughters. Forman also said her nieces and nephews, the Kelleys' adopted children, claim Long beat some of them with a belt and that Long has admitted tying one of the boys up with a chain around his neck.

According to the petition, Long called Forman the night troopers took the three eldest children from the Kelley compound and told her and her sister, Shayla, that he was going to come over and blow their husbands away with his two .357-caliber pistols, "six bullets each."

He went on to say there were not enough restraining orders in the world to keep him from blowing the husbands away, according to the letter.

Earlier that day, July 8, Long called troopers out to the Kelley compound on Misty Lake Road near Wasilla. He also called Forman, who went out there with her sister, Shayla.

When Forman arrived, the children were unkempt, filthy and terrified, she claimed, and when trooper Eric Lorring tried to get assistance from the Office of Children's Services, he was told that as long as the children had eaten that day it did not constitute an emergency.

The next day, Forman and her sister petitioned the Palmer court to have Sherry Kelley involuntarily committed for observation. Forman said she felt the two youngest children, who were still at the Kelley compound, were in danger and feared Sherry might kill herself. Troopers took Sherry to Alaska Psychiatric Institute that day and the two youngest children joined their siblings at Forman's home in Wasilla.

In the days following, threatening phone calls continued to come in from Long, Forman said. He again told Forman he was going to kill her and her sister's husbands, and, Forman wrote, "if he would do that to them, what did I think he would do to us."

Long kept making unwanted phone calls through the month of August, trying to contact the children even though Forman told him he was not supposed to. According to Forman, an OCS order barred Patrick and Sherry from seeing the children, and an OCS investigator told the Longs they were not to contact the children.

But on Sept. 5, George and Shirley Long showed up at the Forman's house in Wasilla. The Formans were gone at the time so the Longs decided to wait in the driveway. When the Formans came home, they saw the Longs' car in their driveway and pulled into the neighbor's driveway, according to an affidavit filed by state troopers. The five Kelley children and the Formans' children were all in the car.

Long came over to the Formans' vehicle and tried to contact the children, troopers said, and Tom Forman grabbed Long's arm and attempted to restrain him. Long then challenged Forman to a fight in the street, at which point Forman let go of Long. Sandra returned to the car with the children, locking the doors.

Sandra stated in the petition that she ran to her car screaming when she saw Long. She also wrote that the children are afraid of Long because he was involved in the abuse that brought them to the Formans' house.

Sandra also claimed the Longs want to take the youngest child away. A video tape of the encounter that night, cited in the trooper affidavit, shows Long asking for one of the children and saying that all this would end if the child were allowed to go with him.

But George Long said he was attacked by Tom Forman that night before troopers arrived.

Shirley Long said in a phone interview that while George was attempting to contact the children, Tom ran into his house and came out with a gun, threatening to shoot them if they didn't leave. Shirley Long said Tom Forman pointed the gun at George and, with his other hand, hit him on the face.

When troopers arrived, George Long was arrested for criminal trespass and disorderly conduct. He was taken to Mat-Su Pre-Trial Facility and released the next day on $500 bail. When Shirley Long picked him up Sept. 6, she said he could barely walk and that she took him straight to the emergency room.

"I don't think the troopers realized he was hurt when they arrested him," Shirley said. "He couldn't catch his breath because he'd been hit."

Shirley said George spent nearly two weeks in the hospital after the incident, recovering from injuries.

Sandra Forman has also filed a lawsuit against Shirley Long, in which there is a hearing scheduled today at Palmer District Court.

Last week, 45 misdemeanor charges were added to felony kidnapping and assault charges against Patrick and Sherry Kelley. The couple now faces a total of 54 criminal charges.

George and Shirley Long have not been charged in the case but the Palmer District Attorney's office is still evaluating evidence to determine if the Longs were involved, and to what extent.

Contact John Davidson at john.davidson@frontiersman.com.