Gracie Clingenpeel’s Medical Bills/Future Healing
Although Grace has struggled from abuse and neglect from her Father Adam Clingenpeel her whole life, she desperately wanted to have a relationship with her Father. She has struggled emotionally her whole life because of this. In November 2017 Grace decided that she was going to live with her Father no matter what. Adam had convinced Grace that I was a terrible Mother and that I stole Grace from him to move to South Carolina while Adam was in prison back in 2012.Of course the courts would never let me do this and I filed all the correct paperwork to leave the state but unfortunately at the time that didn’t matter to an emotionally upset little girl. Adam’s Mother also collaborated much of what Adam told Grace, which hurt Gracie and I’s relationship Even more and led to Gracie’s decision to move in with her Dad. I spoke to police and attorneys who advised that I would not be able to stop Gracie from moving in with her Father because Grace had gotten to the age where she would become an adult in South Carolina (17 yrs old). I also spoke to Gracie and I’s therapist who stated that it would be better to support than prevent her from going as I may lose my relationship forever with her, or Grace may run away.
So reluctantly I let Grace move in with her Father in November 2017. I kept in touch with her as much as I could but Grace did not talk tome much and when she did she stated everything was fine. I helped pay for Gracie to get Medications that Adam could not afford. She also came to visit me for a weekend which was very hard and a struggle. Gracie acted like something was wrong but would not tell me and we fought most of the weekend. She would not eat and cried a lot. I wish I didn’t let her go back.
One year later I got the most dreaded call that no parent wants to hear. Gracie called me totell me that her Dad, Adam Clingenpeel, had been sexually assaulting her since day 1 that she arrived in his house. He would drug her and provide alcohol to her and once she was incoherent, he would rape her. He isolated her from the world by not letting her see a therapist like I requested, often calling her in sick from school, and making her lie consistently to the only family they spent time with, his Mother and his side of the family. Adam would steal bottles of alcohol from his Mothers house togive to Gracie so that she would pass out. I got off the phone with Grace and got in a plane to get her the next day.
In that first week in Indiana trying to get Gracie back, so many horrible things happened that to this day, I still don’t know how we got through it. The following are the details.
1. I found out that Gracie had not been living with Adam for two months prior to the call in November 2018. She had been staying with her boyfriend and his amily who patiently convinced her to tell me and her brother Taylor what was going on. Bless this family.
2. Grace called her Father and had her boyfriend record the conversation. In this conversation Grace and Adam have a conversation that normal Fathers and daughters just don’t have. At the end of the call Grace is crying inconsolably and begs her dad, just admit what you’ve done. Adam hangs up on her.
3. Gracie called the police that night and we filed all the paperwork and made all the interviews we needed to do the police could start an investigation. We obtained a protective order so that Grace wouldn’t have to worry anymore.
4. Gracie called and told her Grandmother (Adam’s Mother), and apparently Adam told his Mother that Gracie was making all of this up. That Gracie was angry with Adam and threatened to go to the police and was mentally ill from living and being raised by me. Mary Kay Hagerman told Grace to Stop lying and stop pursuing this with her Father because it would break the family. She told Grace that her mother (me) had already ruined the family once and that she wouldn’t let Grace do the same thing. Grace was so devastated and depressed she could barely move on. She didn’t trust anyone.
5. I found out that Adam lied to me the whole time Grace was living with him in regards to his employment. He said that he was working and being paid by Mark and Mary Kay Hagerman (his parents) to manage the many properties they own and would be able to financially provide for Grace. The real story was Mary Kay was giving Adam money each month and not working at all. He also sold drugs and had Grace sell drugs to pay for things. He stole the $300 I sent to Grace for her 17th birthday. Adam, although denied the sexual assault, did admit to providing alcohol to Gracie and the police found illegal drugs in his home when they did a search if his home.
6. Mary Kay hired an expensive attorney for Adam. This attorney tried to intimidate Grace and sent her an order to appear in his attorney’s office to give a deposition. So I hired my own attorney. My attorney advised that because we had a no contact order Grace didn’t have to do anything and a deposition wasn’t required until we were in court which would not be until charges were filed which wouldn’t happen until almost a year later. Again it was all to scare Gracie because his Family had money and Gracie doesn’t have anything. But what they didn’t know was Grace had me, and a $2500 retainment helped us fight back to their Bullcrap.
7. It took about two weeks to get Gracie out of Indiana. Plus Grace didn’t trust anyone and was going through a complete mental and emotional break down. I found one of the best wilderness therapy programs for sexual abuse victims and had to have her committed into a 6 month program.
The wilderness therapy program consisted of Gracie learning how to live off the land with other girls in a tent and had weekly therapy sessions along with daily group sessions and individual sessions with the program. In the program she learned many things but mostly to live off the land without any help from anyone else. The following are the important highlights:
1. It cost me $75000 approximately out of pocket for which I didn’t just have in savings so I put it on credit cards. Although the debt is crippling it was worth it because Grace is finally in a place where she is okay. She is a responsible adult in society.
2. Although she hated the treatment at first, she ended the program loving herself again, confident that she can make it in the world, and looking at life in a positive responsible way. It is amazing.
3. During her time in therapy she took multiple accountability and lie detector tests confirming the abuse was all true. Not that I needed it based off her testimony, all the evidence against Adam, and other aspects of the case but it was nice to see everything pointing to the truth for Gracie’s sake.
After the wilderness program, Gracie enrolled in a 5 month youth challenge program with the army national guard. Since she was finally in a stable emotional and mental state, she needed all the skills an adult needed. A year living with her Dad and she had no drivers license, no high school diploma, no school credits, no living skills whatsoever. This youth challenge tutored her and helped her pass the GED. They taught her cooking skills. They taught her about adult finances like how to balance a checking account and the importance of car insurance and completing taxes every year. They taught her technical skills like 3D printing and she got her safeserve certification. They basically gave her everything she needed to be a successful adult.
In September 2019, after 10 months of investigation, the police charged Adam Clingenpeelwith a total of 2 level 5 Felonies for Incest, 2 level 5 Felonies for Child seduction by a parent, 1 level 6 Felony for Child seduction by a parent, 1 level 6 Felony for possession of Child pornography, and 1 Misdemeanor for contributing to the delinquency of a minor and the judge called for a bond of $45,750 for which Adam did post.
Today March 18th, 2020, Adam took a plea deal where he will plead guilty to the level 5 Felony of child seduction by a parent and will spend 6 years on house arrest and will have to register on the sex offenders list. Yes you read that correctly, he will not have to go to prison. But, Grace is thankful that she won’t have to go through the trauma of testifying on the stand against her own Father and attacker. She just wants to move on with her life.
Our next and final step of this court case is to send victim impact letters and costs to the judge to decide final sentencing. I am including all out of pocket expenses for the wilderness therapy and all the child support Adam didn’t pay for all the years for his children Grace and Taylor, but I don’t expect I will ever get anything back from him.
This is why I have finally broken down and am asking for help. I want to pay some of this medical debt off. I want to keep helping Grace get the help she needs. If I haven’t spoken to you in a while, this is why. I humbly ask for any help you can give to support this cause.