Stepfather convicted in Adrian child sex abuse case

ADRIAN — A Lenawee County Circuit Court jury on Wednesday convicted a man of three counts of criminal sexual conduct and another count of child abuse against his stepdaughter.

The jury deliberated for about 45 minutes before returning with the guilty verdicts against 57-year-old Douglas Henry Thoms. The jurors acquitted him of one charge, indecent exposure.

Thoms faces at least 25 years in prison on the most serious charge, first-degree criminal sexual conduct where the victim was younger than 13 and the perpetrator older than 17. That charge has a maximum life sentence.

The two counts of second-degree criminal sexual conduct that Thoms was convicted of have maximum penalties of 15 years. The second-degree child abuse charge he was convicted of is punishable by up to 10 years in prison.

Thoms is scheduled to be sentenced June 21 by Circuit Judge Anna Marie Anzalone. She ordered him to be taken into custody at the end of Wednesday's proceedings.

On the trial's first day, Tuesday, jurors heard the victim, who is now 23, describe acts of physical and sexual abuse by Thoms that happened when she was between the ages of 5 and 12 or 13. They also heard from the Adrian police detective who investigated the case, the stepdaughter's mother-in-law and one of Thoms' daughters.

On Wednesday, witnesses included Thoms' wife, another one of Thoms' daughters, and the victim's half-brother who also is Thoms' stepson. Thoms did not testify.

Douglas Atkins corroborated his half-sister's testimony about an incident that happened in 2013 during one of the religious ceremonies that would take place at the family's homes in Adrian. He said he was 17 and his parents had given him large amounts of alcohol to drink. He described seeing Thoms grab the victim, pull her into the kitchen and, with one hand holding her by the hair and another holding a machete to her, yell at her about feeding their pets. Atkins said Thoms claimed to be possessed during the incident.

Karen Thoms, the victim's mother, described her almost 20 years of marriage with the defendant. She said it was difficult to testify because she loves Douglas Thoms and loves and cherishes her daughter. Choosing between them breaks her heart, she said in reply to a question from Thoms' attorney, Samuel J. Bernstein of Ann Arbor. However, she came to the conclusion that what her daughter claimed Douglas Thoms had done couldn't be true because for some of them she was present when they happened, others did not seem to be logical and others appeared to have had a kernel of truth but had been exaggerated.

"If I thought for a minute that he was guilty I would be the one on trial," she said. "I would set him on fire."

Under cross-examination by Lenawee County Assistant Prosecutor Phebie McClure, Karen Thoms acknowledged that when Detective LaMar Rufner asked if she believed her daughter she said, "I wish I didn't."

She described their religion as Wicca with aspects of Native American shamanism and Western esoteric methods, such as Freemasonry and sacred geometry. She said it celebrates the interconnectedness of things. The gatherings are peaceful and are based on the seasons.

She was there when the machete incident happened, but said Douglas Thoms held the handle of the knife to her daughter's neck, not the blade. She said the blades are used to symbolize the cutting of connections or other things that are holding someone back, such as addiction or bad relationships. They are not used against anyone or to harm anyone.

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Addressing the flea infestations at both of their houses in Adrian, which led to one of the second-degree criminal sexual conduct charges against Douglas Thoms, Karen Thoms said they treated their cats, and removed or treated the flooring but they didn't get rid of the bugs for good at their current home until one of their neighbors moved and took their dogs with them.

Karen Thoms also said the fleas were a particular problem for her daughter who has a condition that leads her to bleed and bruise easily, so when she would scratch at the bites she would bleed.

Douglas Thoms was accused of using the flea situation to conduct "flea checks" of the victim where he ordered her to take her clothes off and he would run his fingers over her body. In response to a question from a juror, Karen Thoms said she allowed the checks and was present for some of them. The victim testified Tuesday that these happened as many as 50 times and they stopped after she complained to her mother about them.

The defense's hypothesis was that the stepdaughter came up with the allegations against Douglas Thoms through her relationship with her mother-in-law, Stella Shananaquet. Bernstein asked Karen Thoms about her relationship with Shananaquet. Karen said she tried to get along with her, but Shananaquet was dismissive of her. She said her daughter and Shananaquet's son met in kindergarten or first grade, but McClure noted in her closing argument that the victim and Shananaquet testified they met in middle school.

Karen Thoms said she didn't see an exact turning point in her daughter's attitude toward her, but as her daughter spent more time with Shananaquet she became cruel, contemptuous and dismissive.

McClure argued that the timing of when the victim became closer with Shananaquet coincided with her becoming older and realizing what had happened to her. She said Shananaquet was only vaguely aware that something was off about the victim, who had nothing to gain by reporting the incidents to the police because she was already alienated from the rest of her family and she wasn't trying to get out of the home or the Thoms' religion.

— Contact reporter David Panian at dpanian@lenconnect.com or follow him on X, formerly Twitter: @lenaweepanian.

This article originally appeared on The Daily Telegram: Stepfather convicted in Adrian child sex abuse case