Funds for battered boy going into trust, court rules

McClatchy Newspapers (MCT) - Tens of thousands of dollars donated to help a Northern California boy who police say was held captive and ritualistically tortured will be placed into a special trust, a judge has decided.

More than $34,000 has poured into a nonprofit law firm from across the country and beyond on behalf of the youth, known in court records only as John K. Doe.

A Sacramento County, Calif., judge has ruled that the money should be held for safekeeping and distributed to the youth as he needs it, with oversight from a trustee and the court, said Bob Wilson of Sacramento Child Advocates, which legally represents abused and neglected children. The organization has been collecting financial donations for the teen, who is in protective custody.

"The court authorized us to continue receiving funds on behalf of the youth," and work with an outside attorney to establish a trust, said Wilson. Sacramento, Calif., lawyer Catherine Hughes has agreed to do the work for free.

The trust will be the first of its kind to be established in such a case, Hughes said Wednesday.

According to police, the youth, now 16, was emaciated, bruised and filthy when he stumbled into a Tracy, Calif., health club last month with a chain padlocked to his ankle. Detectives said he had been held captive for 18 months, beaten with a baseball belt and a belt, denied food and often was chained to a table or fireplace.

Four people are accused of kidnapping, starving, torturing and beating the teenager, and have been charged with crimes including false imprisonment and child abuse.

The youth's relationship with his alleged abusers remains unclear. Before he lived at the Tracy home that he fled last month, he lived in the Sacramento area.

After the youth's story become public, it grabbed attention around the globe, and donations of money and goods began pouring in.

The Tracy Police Department has received gifts from video games to sports equipment for the teen, and money continues to come in to the Sacramento law firm.

Wilson said some donors are designating money for the teen and matching it with a donation to Sacramento Child Advocates.

"That's wonderful, because he is just one of more than 5,000 kids in Sacramento County who are out of their homes because of abuse or neglect," Wilson said.

Setting up a trust will ensure that the money is properly used and will protect it from potential creditors, including the state and federal government, even after the youth turns 18, said Wilson and Hughes.

"In the future, he may need it for a down payment on an apartment, or for college, or for a down payment on a car," Wilson said. "The trustee will review his requests and the court will maintain oversight."

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Hughes said the youth's story clearly struck a powerful chord.

"These are the most vulnerable citizens in society, and we are supposed to protect them, but in this case, it didn't happen," she said. "I think that, collectively, we feel some sort of obligation."

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© 2009, The Sacramento Bee (Sacramento, Calif.).