Gomez child abuse sentencing set for June; judge denies motion to reduce sentence

Gomez case timeline

• June 14: Prosecutors charge Illinois parents after children were found bound, blindfolded.

• June 26: Illinois father declared competent to stand trial in Lawrence child abuse case.

• Dec. 14: Illinois woman pleads no contest in child abuse case, agrees to testify in husband’s case.

• Dec. 21: Illinois man pleads no contest to five crimes in child abuse case.

• Jan. 16: Illinois woman receives one year of probation in case where children were bound and blindfolded in parking lot.

Adolfo Gomez, pictured Feb. 8 in Douglas County District Court, was sentenced Wednesday to 30 months in prison.

Adolfo and Deborah Gomez, of Northlake, Ill., were arrested June 13, 2012, after two of their children were found bound by their hands and feet in a Lawrence Wal-Mart parking lot.

After a series of delays, the sentencing of an Illinois man convicted of tying up two of his children last June in the parking lot of a Lawrence Walmart has been scheduled for next month.

Adolfo Gomez, 53, who pleaded no contest to two felony counts of child abuse and three misdemeanor counts of child endangerment, is scheduled to be sentenced on June 19.

On Tuesday, Douglas County District Judge Paula Martin denied a motion filed by Gomez’s attorney aimed at lightening Gomez’s sentence. A plea agreement between prosecutors and Gomez’s previous attorney in December had specified a 30-month prison sentence for Gomez.

Gomez’s wife, Deborah Gomez, 43, pleaded no contest to three counts of child endangerment and was sentenced to probation earlier this year. The Gomez couple’s 5- and 7-year-old children were found bound outside the family’s van, while the three other children were inside the vehicle, unbound. The family was moving from Illinois to Arizona.