Ankeny Parents to Stand Trial Feb. 13 for Locking Kids in Basement

An Ankeny couple accused of locking their adopted children in the basement for several weeks will stand trial Feb. 13.

Paul Alan Drake, 45, and JoAnn Marie Drake, 44, are both charged with two counts of neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, a felony punishable by up to 10 years in prison, and two counts of false imprisonment, a misdemeanor, according to the Des Moines Register.

The couple reportedly locked their 13-year-old adopted daughter and 14-year-old adopted son in the basement for three to four weeks, feeding them under a locked door and allowing them out only to attend school, according to police reports.

Both parents are out on bond, the Register said.

Ankeny police records show officers made at least two dozen trips to the family's house since February to deal with two teens who allegedly abused their parents, a sibling, or had threatened to harm themselves.

The Des Moines Register tallied the number of police calls to 3016 S.W. Westwood St. since February, and found at least 25 times officers went to the house. Problems within the family escalated nearly two weeks ago when both parents were charged with two counts of neglect or abandonment of a dependent person and two counts of false imprisonment.

Court documents allege the couple locked the two teenagers in the basement for up to three days at a time with no way to escape, the Register reported. Windows to the basement had been boarded up and the door barricaded, according to court documents.

Friends and neighbors of the Drakes have told the media that the couple had been unable to find help from state agencies or the schools as the two teens acted out.

“It was a last resort that the parents were doing to try to create some kind of safety, some kind of order and semblance in the home,” friend and neighbor Maree Ulrich told the Register. “They were worried about the safety of the other kids and themselves.”

Ankeny Police Chief Gary Mikulec told the Register in one or two cases JoAnn Drake was assaulted by one of the children and his officers “worked feverishly to process the child into a diversion program. However, the mother would not agree to the terms and allow us to proceed, so we submitted the case to Juvenile Court.”

After news of the Drakes' arrests, the biological mother of the 13-year-old girl in the case told the media she never mistreated her daughter, but charged the adoptive parents have.

June Simpson, 36, of Truro told the Des Moines Register that her daughter told Simpson and others four years ago that JoAnn Drake had physically abused the girl while she was living as a foster child in the Drake home. A judge was among those the girl told about the alleged abuse, Simpson told the Register.

Simpson told both the Register and KCCI her parental rights were terminated while she and her ex-husband were going through a divorce, but she never harmed her children.

"Me and my ex-husband we definitely failed her, but DHS has failed her, the court system failed her. Everyone who is supposed to protect her has basically failed her," Simpson said in an interview with KCCI.