Couple accused of battery, neglect of four children

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GREENFIELD — Doctors and nurses at Hancock Regional Hospital considered admitting a local teenager for an overnight stay to ensure she didn’t return home with the man and woman who were caring for her, according to court documents.

The teen and her three siblings were taken to the Greenfield hospital last week for exams after their caregivers — 32-year-old Christopher Smith and 29-year-old Chantelle Oliver, both of Greenfield — were accused of neglect and battery against the child, court documents state.

Several anonymous calls came into the Indiana Department of Child Services child abuse hotline in the last week regarding the couple, court records show. The callers said Smith was verbally and physically abusive with the four children who lived with him, and often punched and slapped them and pulled their hair, court documents state.

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Oliver witnesses Smith’s abusive behavior and does nothing to stop him, the callers reported, according to court documents.

State caseworkers began investigating the accusations last week. They spoke with the four victims — who were reluctant at first to talk to investigators out of fear for their safety — and each detailed the mistreatment they suffered at Smith’s hands, court documents state.

One child told investigators Smith once pushed her head into a wall and made her nose bleed, court documents state.

Another said Smith punched her in the face because she ran past a lit fire pit in their backyard, court documents state. The child said she ran through a cloud of smoke to pick up a ball she was playing with, and Smith grabbed her by the hair, yanked her head back and smacked her in the face, court documents state.

The children said they wished Oliver did more to protect them from Smith, and they felt they would be in “physical and emotional danger” if Smith ever found out they’d cooperated with the investigation, court document state.

Relatives told investigators they have seen Smith get aggressive with the children, but he’d threatened them to keep them from reporting his behavior to police. They told investigators, in addition to the physical abuse, Smith regularly used marijuana and methamphetamine in front of the kids, court documents state.

All four children were taken to Hancock Regional Hospital last week to be examined for injuries, court documents state.

Hospital staff noted that Smith and Oliver, who were present for the exams, seemed agitated and were making threatening phone calls to relatives, saying they’d kill themselves or others if the children were removed from their care, court documents state.

Doctors and nurses wrote in their reports that they were afraid to allow the children to return home with the couple, particularly the oldest, teenage victim court documents show.

“Consideration was given to admitting (the teen), who seemed at most risk, but … the hospital stay would be very temporary,” a doctor noted in a patient report obtained by police. “I hesitate to make her more of a focus of (Smith’s) anger.”

Smith and Oliver were booked into the Hancock County Jail over the weekend and were scheduled to make their first court appearance Monday afternoon. Both have denied harming the children, court documents state.

Smith faces one Level 5 felony count of neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury; one Level 5 felony count of obstruction of justice; one Level 6 felony count of intimidation; three Level 6 felony counts of domestic battery on a person less 14 years old; one Level 6 felony count of domestic battery resulting in moderate injury; and one Class A misdemeanor of intimidation.

Smith remained in jail without bond at press time.

Oliver faces one Level 5 felony count of neglect of a dependent resulting in bodily injury; one Level 5 felony count of obstruction of justice; one Level 6 felony count of intimidation; and one Class A misdemeanor of intimidation.

She remained in jail on a $2,000 cash bond at press time.