Time served ordered in abuse case

PALMER — The final case stemming from the sensational Big Lake child abuse case of Patrick and Sherry Kelley finally reached a conclusion Thursday with Sherry’s father receiving no new time to serve in prison.

George Long, 59, and his wife, Shirley, were defendants in a two-week trial in August. Both were charged with not reporting a violent crime against a child for allowing a burn one of their grandchildren suffered to go untreated. George Long was additionally charged with one count of assault for chaining a grandson to a dog run.

The trial ended after District Court Judge William Estelle threw out the failure to report charges. Shirley was thus cleared of any crime. But George was eventually convicted on the remaining assault count.

The case has began in 2004 when the Kelley children were taken away by the state and the Kelleys were slapped with nearly 100 counts of abuse, neglect and kidnapping. Allegations were of children regularly beaten, tied to trees, locked in boxes and thrown in ponds.

The Kelleys’ case took years to wind through the legal system and in the end they were sentenced to time served for neglect and abuse of their adopted children.

Thursday, Palmer District Court Judge William Estelle sentenced George Long to nine months in prison with six suspended for a total term of 90 days.

Long’s attorney John C. Pharr, explained outside court that George had served more than 70 days in jail prior to trial. That, he said, would more than satisfy his prison term, given that by law he is entitled to one third off of his prison term for good behavior.

As to his feelings on the sentence, Pharr said he was, overall, pleased, since it essentially allowed his client to walk out of court a free man.

“That’s a pretty good amount of time served for a misdemeanor,” Pharr said. “I was concerned, given the high-profile nature of the case, the judge would feel constrained to give him a tougher sentence.”

Estelle, at trial, saw fit to dismiss the failure to report a violent crime count, saying that, in his view, an untreated burn did not amount to a violent crime.

As to the assault count, neither side during the trial denied George’s actions. Pharr argued that it was a minor incident.

Prosecutor Rachel Gernat had a different interpretation, saying the assault was just one in a long string the children suffered.