Pocahontas County Grandparents Face Charges Over Injuries to their 5-Year-Old Grandson
According to the criminal charging documents prepared on January, 1, 2021 by West Virginia State Police Trooper Z.M. Chestnut, Brenda Lee Meyers and Daniel Meyers, residents of Durbin, have been arrested and criminally charged for abusive treatment of their 5-year-old grandson, who they have custody of.
Trooper Chestnut states in the document that on December 18th, he was contacted by another trooper who works in Elkins. Chestnut learned that the child was under treatment for serious injuries and malnutrition at Davis Medical Center, and that the boy, who lived with the Meyers couple, had been transported from his Durbin home to Davis Medical Center by ambulance. Physicians at the medical center contacted police when they discovered the boy had “extremely severe” facial and head injuries, and also appeared to be the victim of “gross child neglect” which included severe anemia and malnutrition.
The Meyers told them that the boy had suffered the injuries several weeks earlier due to a bicycle accident.
Child Protective Services removed the victim’s two sisters who also lived with the Meyers from the home. When interviewed by child abuse experts, the two sisters told them that they had seen Brenda Myers hitting and kicking the boy on multiple occasions, and had seen her push the victim into a piano, which resulted in an open sore on the back of his head. In addition, there were severe and disfiguring injuries to the boy’s lips and nose which has also caused a severe infection to his face. Medical officials say that infection has been developing for at least eight (8) months.
During a Child Advocacy Consult conducted at UPMC Children’s Hospital on December 22nd, the victim said that when his grandfather leaves home, his grandmother hits him. The Troopers were told that the boy’s nutrition level was also so poor that his anemia alone could have led to life-threatening complications.
In the charging document, Trooper Chestnut said that there is not a single reasonable adult that if they saw the boy who would not have known he needed immediate critical medical attention.
Daniel Meyers told the Trooper that he had known the boy had a facial issue for several months but, despite living with the victim, he had not looked at the kid for quite some time. Daniel Meyers also said that Brenda would not let him take the boy to a doctor for his injuries.
Daniel was charged with “Child Neglect resulting in serious injury” which is a felony carrying a fine of not less than $300.00 nor more than $3,000.00 or imprisonment for not less than one year nor more than ten years, or both the fine and imprisonment.
Brenda was charged with that same neglect charge and additionally with “Child abuse resulting in serious injury.” That felony carries a fine of not less than $1,000.00 nor more than $5,000.00 or imprisonment for not less than two years nor more than ten years, or both the fine and imprisonment.
Both were booked into jail on Jan. 1st. Brenda’s bond was set at $100,000.
According to Pocahontas County Prosecutor Terri Helmick, the Meyers were scheduled to have an initial appearance on Monday, January 11, 2021, but the case was rescheduled because neither had yet obtained a lawyer.
It should be noted that neither of these people have yet been convicted of these crimes and are entitled to a legal presumption of innocence.
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