The Waterbury Incident: Another System Failure That Is Not a Homeschool Issue
3/15/2025
Compiled with input from CT Homeschool Network, National Home Education Legal Defense, and Concerned Parents
Once again, DCF is responsible for the near-death of another child. DCF didn’t do its job, the Child Advocate didn’t do its job, and the school district didn’t do their job. That’s for starters. The type of education the child was (or was not) receiving is not the issue. The fact that the child was isolated in a room of the house for years on end is the issue – and it was allowed. The fact that the child was being abused/neglected at least as early as age 3 has n-o-t-h-i-n-g to do with any form of education model. It happened in spite of it. That he was KNOWN to have something “grossly wrong” by many “professionals” in his school district as early as age 5 has failed to show our current system, with its hundreds of laws on child protection, to be foolproof. It went on for at least 5-6 years while the victim was enrolled in public school – and – all of the child protection laws did nothing to stop it. Laws don’t protect. People doing their jobs protects. They weren’t doing their jobs – again. Bullying the homeschool community won’t change that FACT. This is not a homeschool issue. It’s yet another gross system failure.
How many other system failures are occurring right now, in CT and across the country, in public schools? Do you know – because you need to – that the rate of physical and sexual abuse of public school children by the adults in their district, is at 10-15% from grades K-12? That doesn’t even count the percentage of incidents of student-to-student bullying, abuse, threats, beatings, and related harms leading to students committing suicide. That the system endeavors to remove parental rights and give them to the government is absurd. That any legislature would even remotely consider passing any law that would give authority in any way to the government – the very system that so many parents are escaping to save and keep their children safe, is wholly irresponsible. Homeschooling is the safest place for a child to learn. Scapegoating, yet again, the homeschool community because of the horrific experience and treatment of the MV1 from Waterbury is warped.
What’s happening in public schools across America?
What are the adults doing toward the children in all grade levels? Abuse – sexual and physical? Yes. Yes, it has been called an “epidemic”.
Here are just a few resources addressing this very issue:
Public School Sexual Abuse Statistics
2024 data
https://www.levinsimes.com/blog/public-school-sexual-abuse-statistics
In the United States, “roughly 290,000 students experienced some sort of physical sexual abuse by a public school employee from 1991 to 2000—a single decade.”[1]
A federal report estimated that in the state of California, “422,000 California public-school students would be victims before graduation”.[9]
The United States Department of Education withheld US$4 million from Chicago Public Schools “for what federal officials say is a failure to protect students from sexual abuse.”[10]
Sexual Harassment in Education in the United States
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sexual_harassment_in_education_in_the_United_States
There is much, much more. There is also much information published about child trafficking via public schools in the nation. The safest place for a child’s education is their homeschooling.
You might be interested in joining the facebook group, linked here, National Children’s Safety Issues, which documents nationwide abuses – including in CT public schools.
As most of us probably have heard by now, there was a horrific incident of neglect that happened in Waterbury involving who is now a 32-year old man. The media is reporting on this and among the multiple articles there are many pieces of the puzzle that have been shared. In one article that we know of, the comment that homeschooling might have been included in the boy’s academic life was briefly mentioned. However, it does not stack up against what else has been published. Isolating a child throughout their childhood is not, as we know, “homeschooling”. Trying to pin this on homeschooling, then washing their hands of it because they can say they “did something” is also sick and depraved. Please resign from your jobs.
Let’s look at the reported data so far, and then ask the real questions, followed by the references leading to the following comments. Let’s first look at some of the reported data so far. What do we know?
*The boy was enrolled as a student in the Waterbury school district.
*He was drinking toilet water due to neglect at the tender age of 3.
*By the age of 5 years old, he was much too thin and as the school principal reported to the media, the school “knew something was g-r-o-s-s-l-y wrong”.
*There were OVER 20+ reports to DCF about the boy between the ages of 5 and 11 and, again, as the principal reported, “nothing was done”. How well-trained are they? They didn’t catch what law enforcement officers with experience have called the worst incident of neglect that they have seen? Why not?
*Some of the neighbors saw the boy, knew something was wrong, and did nothing. Were there others that did call? We don’t really know that. Other neighbors reported not knowing a boy lived there.
*The sisters, father, stepmother, and grandmother knew – and apparently did nothing to stop it.
*The stepmother is a retired public schoolteacher (Kimberly Sullivan) from the Waterbury public school district, from Walsh Elementary school.
*There are reports of the step-mother having multiple marriages, and connections to other serious crimes in that context. Is it all related?
*The victim was “pulled from school” – in other words, he was TRUANT, NOT HOMESCHOOLED. He was given worksheets for a while. Sounds like homebound ed.
*The then principal Pannone, went to the home along with others, not knowing what happened to the boy. Huh? You mean the principal didn’t have a Letter of Withdrawal?? Huh. Interesting. Truancy of an enrolled, then “missing” child, anyone?
*It was known to others in the community that the victim’s care was abnormal by the time he was age THREE. This is not a homeschool issue. It is a system failure issue.
*Even when the students expressed concern about the victim, there was only one attempt to check on him. Concerns were dismissed. Keep in mind that this situation has been called the most horrific situation that even professionals have heard about. How can something that severe, making news around the country, have been so casually dealt with?
*This is NOT a homeschool issue. There was no homeschooling going on. That is subterfuge. This is a massive system failure and homeschooling is a scapegoat.
*Principal Perrone “didn’t know where the student went” because he was “pulled” from school. Legitimate homeschoolers are directed by state homeschool organizations to file a Letter of Withdrawal so that the districts have it in writing that the family is going to home educate. The schools have that “NOI” letter on file and parents are directed to keep a copy for their records. Parents follow CT General Statute 10-184. Duties of Parents. That is the law in CT. Let’s not conflate true homeschooling with this issue of truancy, gross neglect and abuse of someone who wasn’t being educated anywhere. Any evil parent(s) who are treating a child as they did, into adulthood, are surely not caring to include a proper homeschool education. That’s crystal clear to any thinking individual.
*DCF shouldn’t be “shocked and saddened”.
*DCF should be extremely penitent, down on their knees, begging for forgiveness, that they should never get.
*DCF should be completely dismantled at this point.
*This is now multiple horrific story in eight years. One person dead. Another close to death. Several babies dead. All on DCF’s watch.
*Everyone failed Male Victim 1, mostly DCF failed hugely.
*He’s still in school and still starving in the fourth grade.
*The school makes more than 20 reports to DCF.
*Social workers visit twice, alone, without police, for “wellness checks”.
*The boy stops going to school. He’s truant.
*He was habitually truant.
*Children who knew the boy had not seen him.
*Police visit the home twice but do not suspect anything wrong.
*The second time the stepmother asked to file a harassment complaint against the school who continued to report them.
*“Then after that, it just sort of fell through the cracks or feel out of anyone’s notice at that point and continued on”.
*“The boy was unenrolled from Waterbury Public Schools in 2004”.
*DCF’s motto seems to be: “We’ve investigated ourselves and found that we’ve done no wrongdoing.” What could possibly go wrong?
*This is just a beginning. Let’s look at some more questions of inquiring minds…
Questions – Inquiring minds want to know. Do you?
*Did DCF ask for a copy of the boy’s last physical in 2004? How about dental care?
*This is Matthew Tirado all over again, only this time the boy’s agony was prolonged for twenty years and he is only near death.
*DCF learned nothing from Tirado’s death.
*The Office of the Child’s Advocate learned nothing from Tirado’s death.
*How many others must die or nearly die before DCF learns how to do its job?
The Waterbury School District
And what about the school?
They knew the boy was starving.
They reported it to DCF.
They knew DCF did nothing.
And they washed their hands of the matter.
It was not their problem any longer.
Why.didn’t they speak up to the media or to law enforcement or to legislators?
Why didn’t they speak up when DCF failed to do its job?
Why did they let the boy continue to be starved for twenty years?
Could part of the reason be that the stepmother was a teacher in the same school district where the boy was enrolled and found to be starving?
What role hid the fact that she was a teacher play?
What kind of a teacher was she?
Did she abuse other children when she taught in the public school? If so, how many did she abuse?
How did she “pull the boy” out of school?
Who “unenrolled him”?
Where is the documentation of that?
“It just sort of fell through the cracks or fell out of anyone’s notice…”
This is the way DCF does its job to protect children?
This is the way that the school system does its job to protect children?
This is the way that the police do their job?
They all should be fired.
THIS HAS NOTHING TO DO WITH A CHILD’S EDUCATION. His life before, during and after his school years included the same abuse and neglect actions toward him. This is a horrific system failure and we all want to know why. Nobody did anything about it.
This has to do with insanity, depraved, disgusting cruelty, and systemic vile carelessness. This has to do with multiple gross and inexcusable system failures. To attempt to gain media relevance and scapegoat, this has to do with a pathetic, twisted attempt to target and blame the homeschool community – the very community who often withdraws their children to homeschool once they realize the system is imploding and failing their children. It’s been in decline for over a decade now. Wonder why?
We hope that MV1 receives the care that he needs to recover his health and have a safe life moving forward, and justice is served.
ARTICLES
Mother Allegedly Held Stepson Captive for 20 Years Before He Lit Fire to Escape: ‘Something Out of a Horror Movie’
“He lit that fire very well knowing he could die, but he had been locked in the room for 20 years,” prosecutors said during Kimberly Sullivan’s arraignment
By Angel Saunders
Updated on March 13, 2025 10:23AM EDT
“He was also allegedly removed from school when he was in the fourth grade.”
217Comments
<<https://people.com/mother-allegedly-held-stepson-captive-for-20-years-before-he-lit-fire-to-escape-something-out-of-a-horror-movie-11696021>>
Stepson Who Weighed 68 Pounds After 20 Years in Alleged Captivity Ate From Trash and Drank From Toilet: Warrant
The 32-year-old victim alleges that his stepmother locked him in a small room for over 22 hours a day.
By Chris Spargo Published on March 13, 2025 01:13PM EDT
“In an interview with a detective from the Waterbury Police Department, the victim alleged that he started drinking toilet water at the age of 3 and was removed from school after child services was called in response to him eating from the trash.”
“At first he just spent evenings being locked up, but that all changed when he left school at the age of 11, when he said he was removed from schools after teachers and administrators raised concerns to authorities.
“[B]y this time in his life he was always hungry so when he was at school he would ask others for their food, steal others food and sometimes eat food out of the garbage,” reads the warrant.
The victim told police that the Department of Children and Families did come to his home on two occasions and that Sullivan allegedly advised him to tell investigators that “everything was fine,” according to the warrant.
After that second visit the boy alleges that his stepmother pulled him out of school, marking the start of the victim’s alleged 21 years in captivity in which…”
<<https://people.com/stepson-captive-for-20-years-ate-from-trash-warrant-11696296>>
Uncle of Man Allegedly Held Captive for 20 Years by Stepmother Compared Look to ‘Holocaust Survivor’: Report
The stepmother has been accused of holding her 32-year-old stepson captive since he was eleven.
By Brenton Blanchet Updated on March 13, 2025 11:29AM EDT
“(Uncle) Kurt would visit the home “for Christmas Eve for a few years in a row until the family pushed him and his wife away,” the affidavit reads. The uncle also claimed that Kimberly “intervened” when he tried to ask his “skinny, meek and mild-mannered” nephew questions. Eventually, Kurt “spoke with a private investigator who suggested going to vital statistics to look for a death certificate” after he expressed concern for his nephew’s well being.”
<<https://people.com/man-allegedly-held-captive-compared-to-holocaust-survivor-11696147>>
Former Waterbury principal says he raised many concerns about malnourished boy
By Melissa Cooney • Published March 12, 2025 • Updated on March 13, 2025 at 4:30 pm
“A Waterbury woman allegedly held her stepson captive for 20 years, providing little food and water, and a former school principal is speaking out and said the school reported concerns. “We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done. That’s the tragedy of the whole thing,” Tom Pannone, the former principal of the now-closed Barnard Elementary School in Waterbury, said.”
“(Former school principal Tom) Pannone hasn’t seen the alleged victim since he was in fourth grade in the early 2000s, but said he always knew something was wrong. Pannone said he and his staff noticed that the child was extremely small and thin. He said when they asked him questions, the boy told them he wasn’t allowed food at times at home.”
“”Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was 5 years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong,” Pannone said. He said teachers would even bring food in for the student after noticing him stealing food and eating out of the garbage, saying he was constantly hungry. Pannone told NBC Connecticut he and his team made multiple calls to the boy’s stepmom, Kimberly Sullivan, and called the Department of Children and Families (DCF) at least 20 times. The arrest warrant said the student was told to lie and say everything was fine. By fifth grade, he never came back to school. Pannone was told the student enrolled in Wolcott Public Schools, but he couldn’t find any record of that. He was also told at one point that the boy was homeschooled.”
Neighbors: “Paulina Depina said she lived next door to the Sullivan home from 2003 to 2009. “We probably saw that guy three times outside,” Depina said.
She said she would see Kimberly, the late husband, and two daughters, but wouldn’t see the stepson as often. When she did catch a glimpse, she said what she saw was deeply troubling.”
<<https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/former-waterbury-principal-says-he-raised-concerns-about-malnourished-boy/3519189/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJBUxlleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHUVA07KbDICisWarJPuggBRFtrCSXwjDCICRO3snPJHx3qO-yFGaFmR1OQ_aem_XC_M4Ar5dKokztyKQLPDng>>
DCF says it has no records on family of man held captive for 20 years
By Bob Connors • Published March 13, 2025 • Updated on March 13, 2025 at 1:34 pm
““As a result, the Department of Children and Families has looked extensively at our current and historical databases and, to date, have been unable to locate any records pertaining to this family nor any records connected to the names of others who have indicated they made reports to our Department. In accordance with state regulation, it should also be noted that reports of neglect and abuse that have been investigated and not substantiated are expunged 5 years after completion of the investigation provided there are no other substantiated reports.”
<<https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/dcf-says-it-has-no-records-on-family-of-man-held-captive-for-20-years/3519817/?fbclid=IwY2xjawJBUxxleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHfp9PwhYKAsCCqBf6dqtLqBDxKUOwdVPbvXDL8CQkoVo861RxmOUvQOyhg_aem_hb6B5lMybtC_z7LxGF3UpQ>>
Connecticut’s ‘lax’ homeschooling rules could have aided boy’s abuse, some education advocates say
The state’s system is largely unregulated and open to misuse by abusive parents, they said.
By Janelle Griffith, David K. Li and Melissa Cooney | NBC News • Published March 13, 2025 • Updated on March 13, 2025 at 9:00 pm
“After a Connecticut woman was accused of holding her stepson captive for two decades, education advocates said the state’s largely unregulated homeschooling system could allow abusive parents to keep their children from public view with no protective oversight.
The stepson, now 32, told police that he was removed from public school in the fourth grade and that he was homeschooled.
When he was removed from school as a child, a former principal, Tom Pannone, went so far as to knock on the family’s door looking for him, Pannone said in an interview.
Pannone, who was principal of the now-closed Barnard Elementary School in Waterbury, said he was given several explanations about why Sullivan’s son was no longer attending class in the early 2000s, including that he was being homeschooled.
Interim Superintendent Darren Schwartz said, “Based on available information, the student was unenrolled from the Waterbury Public Schools in 2004.”
Waterbury Police Lt. Ryan Bessette told NBC News the stepson told authorities that his formal education ended around the fourth grade and that then he was homeschooled.
Pannone told NBC Connecticut: “You could just simply withdraw your child from school, and you didn’t even have to make a plan for homeschooling. It was a very lax system, and a lot of parents would just say, ‘I’m homeschooling them,’ and that was it.”
Sarah Eagan, of the Center for Children’s Advocacy, a legal rights law firm for children, said that many states have some type of policy or regulatory framework around withdrawing children from school for the stated purpose of homeschooling but that Connecticut does not have clear guidelines.
Eagan, who previously worked at the Office of the Child Advocate, a state watchdog agency, said that while parents have a right to educate their children as they see fit, states have a clear legal interest in ensuring the safety and education of their citizens.
Which is why legal challenges to states’ homeschool regulations have been upheld for the most part, she said.
“It is a balancing of rights and responsibilities, and it needs a thoughtful balance, because most people who are directing the education of their children are likely doing so well and appropriately,” Eagan said.
“But you have individuals who take advantage of the system, and it’s not really about homeschooling. It’s about people who pretend, people who use the pretense of homeschooling as a guise to remove their child from public view.”
To remove a student from public school in Connecticut, a parent “should” formally submit that intention to district offices and file papers for the “child’s withdrawal from school,” according to the state.”
<<https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/national-international/connecticuts-lax-homeschooling-rules-could-have-aided-boys-abuse-some-education-advocates-say/3520198/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_CTBrand&fbclid=IwY2xjawJA8uFleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHSX_p3zaW-11bimuqETqucdGT889E9us0kyIDo0OKqxmwIEvBburEvWkMw_aem_TurMme5g1sG6yGM-e6mzOQ>>
DCF, police lost contact with Waterbury boy after he was pulled from school, held captive 20 years
By Lisa Backus,Staff WriterMarch 13, 2025
“City police and the state Department of Children and Families both are believed to have had interactions in 2005 with the family of a Waterbury man who police say was held hostage and nearly starved since he was a child two decades ago.
But neither pursued the well-being of the boy after he was pulled out of school by his parents following several contacts with DCF when he was 11 or 12.
That’s in part because there is no framework in Connecticut for following up on children who are permanently removed from school, said Sarah Eagan, executive director for the Center for Children’s Advocacy and the former state Child Advocate.
While Connecticut requires compulsory school attendance or an equivalent education, such as home schooling, the reality is, “no one does anything” to confirm a child is being properly educated after they are removed from school, Eagan said.
“Most states at least on paper have a statutory framework on how to deal with a child who has been permanently withdrawn from school,” Eagan said. “Connecticut is one of about 10 states that does not. This is a child that people had concerns about that was pulled from school by his caregivers allegedly to avoid scrutiny.”
Eagan said there are lessons to be learned from the case, including making sure children are interviewed by DCF workers in a separate location from an abusive caregiver. She also said the state needs to define and regulate what is supposed to happen when a child is removed from school.
Waterbury Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo confirmed during a press conference Thursday that in April 2005, DCF asked police do a welfare check at the boy’s home after reports from concerned individuals. Officers who visited the residence at the time found the home clean and reported no immediate signs of abuse, he said.
“There were no conditions that existed that would have led officers to believe anything other than a normal childhood in a normal family existence was occurring,” Spagnolo said. “That was the last we were involved in that particular investigation.”
However, additional reports suggest school staff had raised concerns about the child’s wellbeing multiple times. Spagnolo noted that police records do not indicate direct reports from the school regarding the alleged neglect.
Officers went back to the home a second time on April 18, 2005 to take a complaint made by the family that they were being harassed by the school system, which the family said was repeatedly reporting them to DCF, Spagnolo said.
“In my 33 years in law enforcement, this is the worst treatment of humanity I’ve witnessed,” Spagnolo said.”
<<https://www.ctpost.com/waterbury/article/kimberly-sullivan-waterbury-man-held-captive-dcf-20219726.php?utm_source=social&utm_medium=facebook&utm_campaign=topics_testing&utm_content=textcard&fbclid=IwY2xjawJBUx9leHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHR91JKKdyGVO7P0hDMu2JXR4wc9Q49MXy14_uGtt6gu9mS8pATg9goKtIQ_aem_f7AObGRRQK4Vn-AVIs1b_w>>
‘Not one soul forgot about you’: Fellow schoolmate recalls boy next door
By Melissa Cooney • Published March 13, 2025 • Updated 3 hours ago
“Lopes and his mother, Paula Depina, who we spoke with Wednesday, said their family lived next door to the Sullivan house from 2006 to 2009.
Lopes said he always wondered what happened to the boy that lived next door.
“It never felt right. Even as a kid, it never felt right,” Lopes said.
Police charged Kimberly Sullivan with kidnapping, assaulting and allegedly restraining her stepson for decades until now, at age 32.
When Lopes and his family lived next door in the early 2000s, he said the stepson was never outside and never around other people, saying the stepson was often spotted peering through the window.
“When I was 9, you know, these are little things that you’re noticing, but, as you know, a 30-year-old now, I’m looking at it, and it’s just there was so many signs,” Lopes said.
Lopes said he remembers his teachers and principal Tom Pannone asking about the boy and calling home, wondering if the family had seen him, especially when the boy never showed up to fifth grade. Pannone told us the school reached out to multiple parties for multiple years out of concern.
“All the support that he was getting, it was it was just getting nowhere because someone was just playing a much better game,” Lopes said.
Now, education advocates said the state’s largely unregulated homeschooling system could allow abusive parents to keep their children from public view with no protective oversight.
<<https://www.nbcconnecticut.com/news/local/not-one-soul-forgot-about-you-fellow-classmate-recalls-boy-next-door/3520258/?_osource=SocialFlowFB_CTBrand&fbclid=IwY2xjawJBUxRleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHWN8bW0Qjhn7SCQ7JDMjR0tXx6efZICFK4Hz0xCG5gPQD9J29w6INTh9pA_aem_68t5s0SkIMSbEohuMETg_Q#dw7y7vttvzj6bmpwvgzhqgqe8jlv2gis8>>
<<https://www.cbsnews.com/news/man-captive-20-years-connecticut-details-stepmother-kimberly-sullivan/>>
Copy of the Warrant
15 pages
https://s3.documentcloud.org/documents/25559921/warrant-affidavit-kimberly-sullivan-redacted.pdf?fbclid=IwY2xjawJA6glleHRuA2FlbQIxMAABHZMIdxDFNoVFuzfgrC0HiDV9WNcRKtc6Vv410VqdvQtk6G7eTzTK3qKTQA_aem_leVRHkH_Lag4V7ec0w7jMA