Parents in case of bound kids plead no contest

LAWRENCE, Kan. — Two Northlake parents accused of binding and blindfolding two of their children in a Walmart parking lot in Kansas have pleaded no contest to various charges.

Adolfo Gomez, 52, pleaded no contest Friday to two counts of felony child abuse and three misdemeanor counts of child endangerment, The Lawrence Journal-World reported. His wife, Deborah Gomez, 43, pleaded no contest to three counts of child endangerment on Dec. 14.

“I don’t want to put my children through any more,” Adolfo Gomez said at the hearing Friday.

Both parents have been in custody since being arrested June 13 after police were called to a Lawrence Walmart by a woman who saw a child bound and blindfolded near the family’s vehicle.

Officers found two children, ages 5 and 7, tied up and blindfolded. Three other children, ages 12, 13 and 15, were inside the family’s SUV unrestrained. The Gomezes, formerly of Naperville, told police they were in the parking lot because their vehicle had broken down on Interstate 70 near Lawrence on their way to Arizona.

The children have been placed in protective custody.

Adolfo Gomez is scheduled to be sentenced Feb. 8. His lawyer and prosecutors said they would recommend he be sentenced to 30 months in prison.

“I think the recommendations that are on the record are a fair and equitable resolution,” Gomez’s attorney, Skip Griffey, said after the hearing.

Prosecutors recommended that Deborah Gomez be sentenced to a year of probation. Her lawyer, Angela Keck, said Gomez decided to plead no contest because she did not want her children to have to testify.

“She wanted to make sure her kids didn’t have to go through the trauma” of a trial, Keck said earlier this month.