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October 22, 2005
Father of slain girl indicted on abuse charge
The father of a 3-year-old girl who deputies said was beaten to death by his friend in February has been indicted on an abuse charge for failing to protect his daughter.
Deputies arrested Michael Edward Plummer, 29, on Tuesday, the day after he was indicted by a Maricopa County grand jury on a single count of child abuse. He is being held on a $250,000 bond at the county's Towers Jail.
Plummer was under the influence of drugs or alcohol at the time of the offense and has a history of domestic violence and violence against children, according to court documents.
"He was responsible to protect his child, and he didn't do that," said Lt. Paul Chagolla, a Maricopa County sheriff's spokesman.
The death of Angelene Plummer, a chubby-cheeked, curly-haired girl, deeply affected emergency workers and investigators on the case, who raised money and donated items to spare her a pauper's burial. Sheriff Joe Arpaio called the killing one of the most horrific murders his detectives have investigated.
Christopher Jason Langin, 31, a close friend of Michael Plummer, faces first-degree murder, child abuse and aggravated-assault charges in the girl's death Feb. 8. Authorities said Langin beat, strangled, stabbed and burned the developmentally disabled girl while she was in his care at the Plummers' home in a county island in east Mesa.
According to court records, Plummer said he needed a break from the girl and asked Langin, who also spells his name Langen, to take care of her about 8 p.m. Feb. 7. Early the next morning, Plummer said he went outside for a cigarette and saw his daughter sleeping on the bed inside a trailer next to the house, where Langin had lived for about three months. The men stayed up drinking and watching television in the trailer until about 3 a.m., when Plummer went to the house to sleep, leaving Angelene alone with Langin.
Plummer said he checked on Langin and Angelene throughout the day and assumed they were sleeping. About 10:15 p.m., Plummer was taking out the trash when Langin told him he needed to come inside the trailer, according to records. He told Plummer that he had shoved Angelene after she got caught in the wires of his Nintendo game while playing, according to records. Langin told investigators he doesn't remember causing the injuries.
Plummer found his daughter motionless, dressed only in a diaper. He told investigators she looked like she had been struck by a car, with bruises on her legs, face and stomach. He carried Angelene into the home, and family members called 911.
"Michael did not ask about the condition of Angelene, and the only thing he expressed concern for was his PlayStation game set and wanting to retrieve it," a sheriff's detective later wrote in court documents.
Sheriff's Office spokeswoman Lisa Allen MacPherson said shortly after the arrest that Plummer told detectives he couldn't stay mad at his friend because they are such close friends.
Angelene was pronounced dead at a hospital.
The conditions of the trailer where Angelene was found were "deplorable," with containers of urine, human feces in garbage bags and trash thrown around, court records show.
A Child Protective Services report released Wednesday said the agency had five cases connected with Angelene's family, most involving her brother and sister, but the allegations were unsubstantiated. Those allegations included the siblings missing school, dressing inappropriately and being unkempt, and two minor injuries. In the 2004 investigations, Angelene's brother and sister said that they didn't like Langin but that he had never hurt them. Langin did not live with the family at the time.
CPS reviewed its involvement with the family and determined it had no legal grounds to remove the children from the home. The report noted Plummer repeatedly refused offers for family assistance services.
Angelene's brother and sister were taken into CPS custody, where they remain.
Posted by Nealus at October 22, 2005 05:01 PM
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