Witness recalls Longs’ role in abuse at trial

PALMER — For most of the day Monday, the 19-year-old witness described what it was like to live with her adoptive parents on their land at Misty Lake.

“There was hardly ever any food,” she said. She and her four siblings rarely had more than one meal a day.

As to the physical abuse, “The boys were more-so beat on then us girls,” the witness said, but the girls got their share of punishment.

The woman was a 14-year-old girl when she lived, along with her two sisters and two brothers, with Patrick and Sherry Kelley. All were adopted. When the children were taken from the Kelleys in the summer of 2004, the case shocked the Valley with allegations of children tied to trees, regularly beaten and locked in a box.

At one point the Kelleys were facing nearly 100 charges of abuse, kidnapping and child endangerment. Those charges were whittled down for Sherry to one count each of assault and criminal nonsupport and for Patrick to a single count of child endangerment. Both, at hearing in November 2006, were sentenced to time already served in prison.

Everything the Kelleys were alleged to have done occurred on their land, next door to Sherry Kelley’s parents, George and Shirley Long.

Now, the Longs are on trial, charged with assault and not reporting the child abuse to authorities.

“There was a time when George actually participated in the beating, the physical beating of the boys,” the witness testified Monday.

Asked if George or Shirley ever intervened when the Kelleys were abusing her or her siblings, the woman testified that they did once, when George called Alaska State Troopers in 2004 and troopers took her and her siblings away, ending their stay with the Kelleys.

“He said that he’s tired of this,” the witness recalled George Long saying just before he dialed 911. “‘If Sherry doesn’t stop beating on you I’m going to call the cops.’”

The jury, consisting of three women and five men, also heard Monday the audio portion of a videotape made after the children were sent to live with their aunt and uncle, Sherry’s sister and brother-in-law. George stopped by late one night.

“I intervened on these kids’ behalf,” George tells his daughter, Sandy Forman, who is heard repeatedly asking him to leave.

George asks his daughter to consider just letting Sherry and Patrick have the youngest of the children so maybe the legal mess he sees coming down the pike can be averted.

“Yes, the other kids were abused, I’ll agree to that,” George said, but the youngest daughter was pampered.

At one point George is asked about the incident that led to the assault count — chaining one of the boys up in a dog run.

“Yes, I did that,” he says, but he described it as a very brief incident and said the boy was easily un-tethered.

As to why he didn’t do anything about what his daughter and son-in-law were doing to the children, he says on the tape, “I couldn’t beat Sherry and Pat up and make them do like I wanted.”

The trial continues this week.

Contact Andrew Wellner at andrew.wellner@frontiersman.com or 352-2270.