Dozens May Have Been Abused at Care Home

The police investigation into alleged abuse at a Mira Mesa care home for foster children has widened, and detectives now fear that more than 5 dozen children may have been tortured after being placed there since the home was licensed six years ago.

An affidavit filed Monday also shows that a second police search of the home has turned up almost 700 separate items of new and unwrapped clothing that were allegedly denied the foster children.

Also recovered from the home were two buckets reportedly used as makeshift toilets for the children.

‘A Major Investigation’

“This is what we would consider a major investigation,” said police child-abuse Detective Rick Carlson. He said the case has expanded as new allegations of neglect have been reported as a result of interviews with some of the foster children.

“It’s complex. And it has a scope that encompasses a lot of people, a lot of witnesses and a lot of victims,” Carlson said.

Police originally believed that only 17 children had been placed in the foster home, run by Henri Dyson and her son, Harold. But Monday, Carlson said police have learned that the county Department of Social Services has placed as many as 62 children in the home.

Asked if it was possible that all 62 children were abused, Carlson said: “I don’t know that I could confirm that. But there certainly is that possibility.”

He also said that, although he and Detective Dan Dennis were originally assigned to the case, a group of investigators is now working to determine how widespread the abuse was.

“Different people are being assigned to do different interviews,” Carlson said. “We’re trying to see how many are victims. And we’re corroborating some of the interviews were getting.”

Pleaded Not Guilty

The Dysons were arrested Jan. 19 at their home in the 8700 block of Pagoda Way and have since been charged with multiple counts of child abuse and child endangerment. They have pleaded not guilty to the charges.

Henri Dyson was released last week from County Jail at Las Colinas on $200,000 bail. Harold Dyson was being held Monday on $125,000 bail in the South Bay Detention Facility. A preliminary hearing in the case has been set for Feb. 28.

An original search of the home by Carlson and Dennis uncovered many belts and sticks reportedly used to whip some of the children, as well as a post in the kitchen that one boy said he was tied to while beaten.

Police said they also found equipment used to perform enemas. One of the children, a 17-month-old, nearly died after apparently being tortured with a water enema, they said.

The detectives said they also found that some of the children were sleeping in a bathtub and on thin pads in the garage, and that others were sleeping without covers, sheets or blankets in upstairs bedrooms.

Some of the children also said they were forced to eat hot sauce and hot peppers and they were given pills that made them fall asleep, police said.

Clothing Found

In a second search of the home, last Friday, police found 681 separate sets of new children’s clothing stored throughout the house, including 36 girls’ dresses in an upstairs bedroom and 99 items of clothing in a brown wicker chest.

“It was in closets, cupboards and drawers,” Carlson said. “There were tags on them. They’d never been opened.”

According to the affidavit signed by Dennis and filed in San Diego Municipal Court on Monday, foster parents are reimbursed for clothing they purchase for children under their care. To obtain this reimbursement, receipts must be shown.

But, according to the affidavit, “one child related that she was told that new clothes were bought for her but that she could not wear them.”

The affidavit says police are now trying to determine whether the Dysons were being reimbursed for the clothing, then reselling the items.

The detectives said they were told by several children at the home that they were forced to sleep on a thin pad in the garage, with no mattress coverings or blankets, or were made to sleep in upstairs bedrooms without sheets or blankets.

Buckets Recovered

During their first search of the home, the detectives saw several children sleeping in beds without covers, according to court records filed Jan. 24. But the second search last Friday turned up eight unopened packages of blankets, found in a hall closet, along with five unopened sets of sheets and two unopened sets of pillowcases.

The detectives also recovered two white plastic buckets in the garage, which they believe some of the children were forced to use rather than being allowed to visit any of the four bathrooms in the house.

According to the affidavit: “A bucket was observed previously, but not seized, which has been described as being used by the children as a makeshift toilet.”

The affidavit also says that some of the children told police they were given various medications, even if the drugs had not been specifically prescribed for them. However, although foster-care records, logs and receipts were taken from the Dyson home Friday, the “receipt and inventory” accompanying the affidavit do not list any medications found in the home.