Caging of boy alleged

Woman accused of forcing grandson to stay in kennel

Hector Gutierrez And Ivan Moreno, Rocky Mountain News

Published May 27, 2006 at midnight

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Neighbors and classmates of a 13-year-old Commerce City boy were always curious about his behavior when he left Adams City Middle School.

Unlike other neighborhood children who walked home from school, they said the youngster always scampered to his house.

Now, the boy's classmates and neighbors fear the worst.

Did he run home to be on time for his grandmother to lock him up in a small kennel before she headed off to work for the past three years, as police allege?

That was one of the questions they asked themselves Friday after Commerce City police arrested the child's grandmother, June Candelario, on child-abuse and other charges.

Candelario, 61, a Jefferson County Jail counselor and a former Colorado State Patrol trooper, is accused of locking her grandson in a kennel every day before she went to work Monday through Thursday.

Candelario's shift was from 4 p.m. to 2 a.m. When she returned home from Golden about 3 a.m., she opened the kennel to let him out, police allege. The kennel measures 46 inches by 30 inches by 35 inches, police said. Detectives are investigating whether Candelario left food and water for the boy.

"One time I was walking home with him, and then he said, 'I have to be home at 3:15,' " recalled his neighbor and classmate, Michael Johnson, 14. "I asked him why, and he said he would get in trouble by his grandma."

"We'd always see him running, and he would always book it home," added Holly Morris, 13, another classmate and neighbor.

Connie Serna, who worked with the alleged victim when he attended Alsup Elementary School, said she used to see the child every day coming home from school.

"He said, 'Hi Miss Connie,' " Serna, 61, recalled. "He'd come running home. I kind of wonder if that's what it was."

Detectives began investigating Candelario after the alleged victim told a friend his grandmother was putting him in a kennel. The friend then told his mother, who informed police, Lt. Chuck Saunier said.

Officers who went to the home in the 6700 block of Ash Street late Thursday saw the kennel, which had a mattress and had been modified to be used by a child, the lieutenant said.

The youngster was living with Candelario because his mother is dead, Saunier said. He is now in protective custody with Adams County human services.

About noon Friday, neighbors said they saw a uniformed officer escorting Candelario from her home. Her Ford Explorer remained parked in the driveway.

"She was looking down, handcuffed," neighbor Brenda Paulsen said. "I was in shock. I was like, 'What did she do?' "

Candelario was being held at the Adams County Detention Facility for investigation of second-degree kidnapping, reckless endangerment, false imprisonment and child abuse. Her bond was set at $100,000.

The Jefferson County Sheriff's Office suspended Candelario with pay pending the police investigation, sheriff's spokesman Jim Shires said.

Candelario has worked at the sheriff's office since March 2003, he said.

In the 1980s, Candelario worked as a CSP trooper for a brief period, a spokesman said. She left the state patrol in 1989, he said.

As word spread in the Adams City neighborhood of Candelario's arrest and the allegations against her, stunned neighbors converged in front of her home.

They remembered that after the boy's mother died about five years ago, Candelario and her husband, Leroy, took custody of their grandson. The boy's grandfather died about a year later, neighbors said.

"He was with his grandfather when he died," Serna said. "He was a little boy, and he came out and he would holler, 'Grandpa! Grandpa!' "

After his grandfather's death, neighbors said they rarely saw the child and his grandmother outside their home. Sometimes they saw the child playing inside a kiddie pool that was still in front of the home Friday.

"I would see him in the pool, and he'd just pour water on top of his head," neighbor Amber Mondragon, 19, said.

Serna described Candelario as "a very strict woman."

"She didn't like him to be misbehaving," she said.

Another neighbor, Martin Cardenas, 76, said he can't believe that Candelario would mistreat her grandson.

"She's great, and she's friendly enough," Cardenas said. "They do everything together.

"We would talk about our yards. She was working all the time on her house. She does remodeling, and she's a good carpenter and whatnot."

Cardenas said he saw Candelario's grandson look sad once and peer over his fence while his grandchildren played on the trampoline in the backyard. Cardenas' grandchildren invited him over to play.

"He didn't have any kids being around him," Cardenas said.

morenoi@RockyMountainNews.com or 303-892-2895

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