Elias Allen child abuse trial day two

Garden City, KS(westernkansasnews.com) Tuesday was day two of the Elias Allen child abuse trial in Garden City in Finney County District Court. Allen is charged with child abuse of a 2-year-old child with Down Syndrome. The child also required a feed tube and was severely malnourished.

Allen and his girlfriend at the time Kiala Pollman were arrested in August 2017. Pollman is the child’s mother and Allen, 32, is his stepfather. The couple were initially charged with child abuse after initially being charged with second degree murder. Pollman, 27, accepted a plea deal last week for probation, she testified on Monday.

Pollman stated that because Allen was not the biological father he didn’t have clearance to handle his medical appointments. Pollman also stated that Allen treated all three kids that were in their custody well.

On Tuesday Dr. Jeremy Roderick, Dr. Leo Altamirano, and Dr. Crystal Faudere all testified. Dr. Roderick of Plaza Medical Center in Garden City testified that the couple brought the child to him a week before being admitted to Children’s Mercy Hospital in Kansas City. Roderick said the child was extremely underweight and just said to keep their appointment at Mercy the next week.

Roderick was then questioned by Allen’s attorney Cheryl Stewart about comments he made at the preliminary hearing. Roderick said he made a mistake on what he advised the parents to do and said he was shocked he was seeing the child because it wasn’t his specialty.

Dr. Altamirano was the pediatrician who saw the child up until he was admitted to Mercy. Because of the feeding tube the child needed a special expensive formula. Pollman said on Monday she couldn’t afford the formula on her own and asked Altamirano to authorize her using a low-income parent program to help her get it, but that he rejected it.

Altamirano on Tuesday said he didn’t sign it because he hadn’t seen the child in a while and hadn’t heard from doctor’s at Mercy. He also added that Pollman had missed five appointments with Mercy.

The child was place into foster care in October 2016 in El Dorado. That’s when Dr. Crystal Faudere began to see the child. Faudere said at first the child was extremely weak and was basically just bones with skin. She said once he began to receive proper care he started to gain weight, gaining close to 13 pounds in about ten months. The child has since been living with his grandmother and has feeding tube removed in January 2017.

Christine Schmidt from Russell Child Development Center also testified on Tuesday. She stated they had contact with the child nine times.

The Kansas Department for Children and Families issued the following statement about the trial on Tuesday.

“The Kansas Department for Children and Families has a wide range of programs and services to help families meet the needs of their children. We are especially available to families in crisis. And we urge anyone who suspects abuse or neglect, to contact our Kansas Protection Report Center by calling 1-800-922-5330.”

The trial will resume Wednesday at 9 a.m.