Infant Abuse Case: Math Teacher Faces Charges for Twin Injuries

[00:00:00]This smiling middle school math teacher is accused in a shocking case of abuse allegedly against his own twin children who are just 6 weeks old. The infants went to the hospital with bruising and broken ribs allegedly at the hands of their own dad. And not only is it shocking what he reportedly told police when they questioned him about the injuries, but even more shocking perhaps is what he told a reporter with the newspaper about what he allegedly did.

[00:00:28]We're on the case presented by Law and Crime. I'm Chris Stewart.

[00:00:33][Music] Child abuse cases really strike a nerve because the victims are so young. And in this case, we're talking about twins and we're talking about babies just six weeks old. And for as shocking and difficult as it is to talk about what the suspect in this case is accused of, it's also shocking what he allegedly told police and what he reportedly said to the local newspaper. This is the person who police say is responsible for what allegedly happened to those infants. His name is Ree Sorenson. He's 28 years old. Up until his arrest, he worked as a math teacher at a middle school in Salem, Oregon. Here's his name still in the staff directory this morning for that school. The local newspaper, the Salem Reporter, who's been covering the story closely, they say he has since resigned from his position at the school since his arrest.

[00:01:31]Sorenson is also a captain in the US Army. That's a position of leadership.

[00:01:36]He's an officer. But his most important job, one that police allege he completely failed at, is dad. Ree is a married father of two twins, a boy and a girl, and they were just 6 weeks old at the time that this story took place, according to police. The Salem reporter reviewed the police affidavit in this case. And here is what that affidavit reportedly says. Let's go back to August 10th because that is the day that police say they were called to the hospital because doctors noticed something was very wrong with the two children that were brought to them. The children were brought to the hospital that day in Salem, Oregon because, according to the affidavit reviewed by the newspaper, one of the infants was having a hard time swallowing. When doctors examined both children, they found those children were not only just bruised, they were severely malnourished. Now, the affidavit says that doctors noticed that the babies had bloodshot eyes, which their parents said was from vomiting. So doctors decided to examine these children further to see if anything was wrong, and this is what they reportedly found. One of Sorenson's children had 10 broken ribs. Doctors noted the babies flinched when anyone got close to them.

[00:02:48]Now, the girl had bruises around her mouth. And here is what we are starting to learn about what Sorenson allegedly told police at the hospital. his side to the story, if you will, because he reportedly told detectives that he stuffed a rag into his six week old daughter's mouth to stop her from crying and screaming. Reportedly saying that he was tired and was quote at his wit's end. As for those broken ribs, Sorenson reportedly said that he put his fist into the child's stomach using his knuckles and force to help that child release gas. He also allegedly squeezed the child five to 10 times before his wife stopped him. The Salem reporter says after reviewing that affidavit.

[00:03:33]Now, Sorenson's wife, who is not facing charges in this story, it's unclear if she's under investigation, she reportedly said that Sorenson was very rough with the children and that she does not trust her husband to be around the babies alone. I think it's important to talk about just how young these kids are because not only are they unable to defend themselves, but these children at six weeks old, Sorenson's been a dad for a month and a half. That is it. And he already has a reputation in his own home of being too rough with the kids and having a reputation that his wife says she does not trust him to be around the children alone. This is just after a month and a half of parenting. I find that so shocking. Now, even though his wife doesn't feel like it's safe for him to be around children and the list of alleged injuries to his kids that I just told you, Sorenson is out of jail. He was released from jail the following day after his arrest. And according to the Salem reporter, it was because his charges just did not meet the criteria to keep him in jail longer. So, he is currently out, but some of the conditions are reportedly that he cannot have communication or contact with his kids. Now, his charges originally were two counts of thirdderee assault and a count of strangulation as well as a count of criminal mistreatment. He is now charged with five counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment and a charge of unlawful use of a weapon. Now, Sorenson doesn't appear to be denying much of what I just read to you that police alleged because he spoke to the Salem Reporter newspaper. He said that he's working to get better, that he started to get help by taking counseling classes after his arrest. So, in some ways, you could look at that and say that this is someone who is trying to accept responsibility, but we'll see what the legal system says about that when he is due in court next month. He also reportedly told detectives that he has an anger issue and easily gets frustrated with his twins. Twins that came into this world a month and a half ago. Sorenson's next due in court September 4th. As for those baby twins, the boy and the girl, they are out of the hospital according to the Salem Reporter. Joining us now to talk about this is retired NYPD detective David Sarnney. Thanks as always for being with us on Law and Crime. Though um some of these cases that I know we've talked about in the past with with alleged child abuse, which is what this one is at this point, it's just they they strike such a nerve. And with this story for me, it's I think of the age of these kids. And as a parent myself, like yes, the early days of having a child, they are hard. It's a grind. You're tired.

[00:06:13]Having twins would be very difficult.

[00:06:15]But these kids are just 6 weeks old. And then his his his wife is like, I don't trust him around the kids. He says he has an anger issue. And it just to me, even if he's saying now like, I realize I was wrong and all this and all that.

[00:06:28]Like it just seems like there's something else going on here beyond just well I was in the moment really really angry when it happened.

[00:06:37]>> Yeah. And thank you for having me again on this. And you're looking at the fact that they're twins and you don't know the the precursors before they have an expectation when they have twins. You know it's going to be difficult. But the reality is this. They're your kids.

[00:06:50]They're your babies. They're six weeks old. You should already been prepared at one point or another that these kids are going to it's going to be a difficult upbringing because that's what it is parenting at a with babies is you they're dependent on you 24/7 365. They have an expect you have an expectation as the provider of that for those kids to do what's right for them and you have to are you deprived of sleep? Yes. Are they sometimes pollicky and and crying?

[00:07:16]Yes. But that's what you expected. If you had no expectation of having children then you should have been prepared for that. But once you have these kids, you have to be the provider.

[00:07:25]And to see what they did to I mean this is systemic. This isn't a one time oops I did something wrong. They had bruised.

[00:07:33]They had broken one had broken ribs.

[00:07:35]They were flinching when when doctors went to their faces. That is for a six month for a six week old child for child over a month already physiologically moving away from from from a person.

[00:07:48]That's something that you have to look at and go there was more. It's definitely more. And I believe and is the the mom complicit. Yeah, she's complicit in the fact that if she didn't feel he was comfortable being around him, seek help. Uh Oregon has opportunity for help to do that or something along the lines that if you need the assistance, get it. Don't wait till the last minute and then all the, you know, the only way they would have found this happened. And fortunately, you know, first responders, you know, your mandated reporters and they took went to the the doctor. Law enforcement would never got involved in this unless that happened or if the children were dead, if the babies were dead. That's the next step. But thankfully, at least there is a stoppage of this, but it should never happen in the first place.

[00:08:29]And preparation is key to have a baby.

[00:08:32]You know, that's the important part. You know, this is they're your life's blood.

[00:08:37]You sacrifice. You don't injure them because you don't like the way they're crying. You don't injure them because, well, I don't know what else to do. No, you do. And if you don't, seek help.

[00:08:47]And I think too, I mean, if if there's one thing in this story, and it never should happen, um, but unfortunately there's too many cases where it does. I think of the doctors at this hospital who this this I I guess one of the children reportedly was brought to the hospital and the the issue the story the parents gave was they were having an issue swallowing. And then the doctors just looked and they saw something that just didn't seem right. So they investigate further and then they made the decision to call, you know, they they recognized the issue allegedly and then they call police who get involved. As an investigator, I mean, how common is it that that is the way you discover some of these child abuse cases that it's the phone call from the hospital, which certainly by the point a child gets to the hospital, it's too late, but still, you know, they're brought to a place where then, you know, you're brought into the fold and the investigation begins.

[00:09:38]>> Yep. that that's usually the way it works sometime is like um there will be the 911 call of uh loud noises or something or dispute in the home but a lot of times the parents you know after they've done all of this you know and I go say alleged abuse after they get almost all this damage is done and they're able they then realize they can't do any more than they bring to the doctor and that's the important part of mandated reporting you know at prior to say New York State you know teachers and doctors would sometimes not report it because it was a p it was a family matter they wouldn't but Now, luckily we have moved on and this is important because when the invest when they make the phone call in New York, we have what's called instant response team. So, we're going to have a team available that goes right out which can consist of um child services uh investigators from the detective squads would go to the go to that that hospital and then start their investigation. And it it goes back to it's fortunate there was found at the time it was because now you saved two lives because they were going to be dead. That's that that's the fact. I mean, based on what what you're seeing is the the starvation, the injuries, they were only going to increase because we've seen in domestic incidents uh when it comes to children and adults, the violence increases. It doesn't really decrease when they get away with one thing, then they do step B and step C, step D. And that's what it does. So with the investigators and they get there and I you know I advocate that we have uh and one thing about detectives at least NYPD we have specialized uh child you know the special victims division is a specialized child uh section and that's important because when you deal with children and infants you want people who are specialized in that and not only that specialized uh prosecutors to see you know because sometimes you know unfortunately when people when when babies die they can die sudden death and been you and a SID. It could be just whatever. But that investigation is important because they babies can't tell you anything. Children may not tell you everything. That's why, you know, the deep involvement of medical staff, social work, and specialized investigators and prosecutors for these make it beneficial because if it is something that, you know, the child fell accidentally, they could determine that.

[00:11:47]But if there's systemic abuse, we can see that also. and and you talk about the systemic part of it and you know all we know at this point is what's been alleged as far as the injuries that the children had when they got to the hospital and then the mom made some interesting statements about just not trusting her husband um around the children alone which again is is pretty interesting considering they've only been in this parenting thing it seems for 6 weeks. Uh but at the same time you have the children you know when a doctor would come over to them they they they flinched and we're talking about a little child so already that kind of motor is going when they started drinking milk or or formula they were ravenous is is the term that was used according to the Salem reporter and then you know they were this starvation issue as well. So, like clearly something else more was going on than just the injuries at home and what led up to it. But beyond the statements from the wife, how do you go about an investigation figuring out if what we saw at the hospital is just the tip of the iceberg?

[00:12:48]>> Well, that's why you would obviously make a visit to the home. You know, either by consent or by search warrant, checking the refrigerator because when we have ACS, Administration Children's Services in New York City, they would go to the residents. Police would go to the residents too at times depending on the severity. uh checking the conditions of the home, conditions in the in the fridge. Uh general uh information that you would expect to have if you're feeding babies, you should have formula or breast milk wherever is that is that in the fridge? Where is the bedding? How is the bedding established? Is there bedding? Um this all comes from, you know, we had many many years ago and this is in New York the Lisa Steinberg case and I actually utilize this in my in my classes and talk about that. At that time it was sort of just let it go.

[00:13:29]But now it's great that we get engaged.

[00:13:32]The problem is we're engaged usually only when it's criminal. And if the mom, the mother at that time felt that he was a danger to the kid, there's got to be an alternative or someone she should have reached out to. He he actually worked in a school. Wouldn't you talk to the staff or talk to the principal and say my this is a problem because now he you know this is the thing she's hardline complicit in this. You know, if you felt that he wasn't able to be next to the children and the children were hungry apparently based on the information from the doctors that they were ravenous, you're part of it because wouldn't you if that if you know if you're concerned about the safety and welfare of being of your baby where and this is the problem again, was she working? Was she was she home all the time? These are things that going to come out and play in the investigation.

[00:14:18]You're going to ask these questions because you want to get a full detailed analysis of what was going on in the home to determine those facts. I mean, babies don't break ribs. That's the reality. Rabies don't break ribs.

[00:14:28]Somehow that's done by an adult, there's no alig, you know, this is allegations, of course, but when you talk of the physicality and you're looking at the the the well-being of the children, the babies, and this is what they're babies, infant, you you have to see. And that's why you go based on what the doctor sees too. So, that's the analysis you go. You talk to the doctors who are on scene.

[00:14:47]They give you an analysis there. You talk to the parents, you do resident, you go to the residents, you do all these things to determine the facts, the totality of circumstances. We have unfortunately seen deaths of infants and there's been no criminality. And the only reason why we do that is because we have to really focus on these cases.

[00:15:03]These are serious involved cases. Uh and in that we need to do a lot more. There is a you know this is what happens with babies. They're home. You maybe go outside and that's it. You talk to neighbors. You talk to people in this around. Do they have daycare? Do they are they doing anything like that? Those are things you're going to go into that investigation. So then you can determine whether or not there's criminality in this. And b based on probable cause, there's been deemed criminality with these with the uh the the treatment of these two infants, these two babies.

[00:15:33]>> Yeah. And and according to the the affidavit that was reviewed by the the local newspaper, we haven't gotten it in-house ourselves yet, but um it seems that Ree Sorenson admitted to, you know, part there was bruising around the girl's mouth. And the reason for that is, and this is just it's wild to think that someone would do this, even if you don't know anything about parenting, that like put a rag in the baby's mouth to try and like quiet her cuz he was quote at his wits end, which is insane on if if that's actually what it is, like an insane reasonable, you know, reasoning to do that. But then at the same time, I think, and I'm not making an excuse for them, but you know, there's a lot of people you're handed a baby a couple days after you go to the hospital and then it's very easy to get overwhelmed. Where is the line between this is someone who just does not know how to take care of someone and then on the flip side of it that this is a case of child abuse?

[00:16:21]>> Well, this is this is child abuse. I mean, based on what you're getting and that's the determination. You know, when we talk about children, there is physical punishment that happens. A slap on the button things. There is there is allowable physical punishment sometimes to children to b to babies. So shoving a shoving a a rope a rag down their throat is beyond the pale. And and I think the reality is he's 28 years old. We're noticing more and more younger people have inabilities to handle situations that are stressful. We're see and he's a teacher. He was a he was in the reserves. It it's amazing that when it comes to his comes to his social life, he can't control it. He doesn't know how to handle it. We're seeing this more and more with younger male, younger females in their 20s. They are they they have not understood. They have not grown up.

[00:17:12]They're not mature. I mean, my parents I mean, my parents had me at a very early age and they handled things. And now it seems to be more and more this is comes with abuse. A lot of times people in their 20s and early 30s do not how to hand many of them, I'm not going to say everybody, but many of them don't seem to be able to handle stressful situations. So then they act out physically and in this case shoving a rag down your baby's throat or withholding food or breaking their ribs.

[00:17:40]This is something that you know I guarantee you with the ribs he's probably shaking the baby to shut the baby up and and luckily the babies are not dead because I'm telling you this was going to happen eventually and we would have a double tragedy and then we would say what happened. The benefit is, you know, on their part, positive or negatively, they went to the they went to the doctors and the best thing the doctors did is report it to the authorities, reported to the police that what they saw, what their what their uh prognosis is and what their analysis is.

[00:18:11]>> Yeah. And he was a captain in the in the US Army Reserve. This is this is an officer who who carries responsibility over, you know, people who are enlisted, maybe a lieutenant underneath him. And so this is someone with responsibility and in the classroom as well. It just it's the disconnect between I guess being a math teacher in a middle school and then having that type of responsibility even in the reserves in the military. Um it's it's just that's what really stood out to me with this story. Now it does appear that um he spoke to a local reporter and said, "Hey, I I I realized I was wrong. I really, you know, and it's easy to roll your eyes at at someone saying that after it and so like and I certainly do in a lot of ways, but you've seen I mean what is for him and and I guess the legal system, you know, if someone at least admits their faults in it and they're moving forward, how could that come into play with what a sentence could look like if this goes to trial or some sort of plea deal is worked out?

[00:19:15]Well, we've seen numerous times when there's contrition or admissions of guilt, there will be some sort of way of re rehabilitation where the judge may order visits by uh children's services to the residents on a regular basis to make sure they're on on point with whatever they need to do, but and he needs some therapy. That's great. All well and good, but this isn't a one-time oops thing. That's the problem. This is not a one-time oops thing where babies flinch at the sign of someone coming to their face or there's bruising around their face. Could it be possible it was a one-time thing? But starvation, alleged starvation or these children were seem to be malnourished. That is consistent. That is continuous. So, it's oops. Maybe he could be upset the fact he got caught and we've seen that happen before. Yeah, I did something wrong. I I made a mistake. I'm sorry. But this seems to be systemic and complicity by the mother. And that's the other thing.

[00:20:10]It isn't a one-time thing where the baby got injured by an an by an an action that either one of them did. This seems to be a persistent and consistent situation was going on with the babies.

[00:20:21]He can say what he wishes to say. The court system obviously and one thing about uh children services, they rarely take u custody from the parents unless they see a egregious uh violent type of abuse toward the children. That would be up to the courts whether they put them in foster care. But I'll tell you this, many times they'd rather keep the children with the family under extreme supervision. That may be what the case will happen. His contrition, you know, I made a mistake, but this is not a mistake. This is consistent. And deep psychological help counseling for them.

[00:20:54]Great. But now what's going to happen is how long is that going to stay for? 2 months, 3 months, 6 months? And will he revert back to his his ways again? And that's the thing you have to look at because we've see people I'll never do it again and domesticate situations we see it all the time. I will not do it again. The first time they do they smack their domestic partner. I will tell you now that always consistently continues onward. And that's the thing we have to be concerned about.

[00:21:22]>> Yeah. And you know to this point our understanding that his wife the the the mother of the twins has not been she hasn't been charged. We'll we'll keep an eye on this story. you know, it seems like he admitted to a lot at the hospital or at least talking to police.

[00:21:35]And I've seen, you know, we don't have the interrogation video or the body cam video of of how that conversation went down, but I've seen a lot of body cam video where, you know, the detective will say, "Hey, if you admit to this like in and trying to get some sort of information, you'll all go to bat for you and this will help you out." How in in not necessarily in this case, but just in general, that type of cooperation, even when it's admitting to something horrific, like how far does that go for you in in what your sentence may be or or or how the case plays out?

[00:22:06]>> Well, that's the thing. When when you do this interrogations, you you know, the admission is one thing. You could admit to something, but we want to make sure it's clarification that it was done obviously voluntarily, intelligently, and knowingly this confession. So, you really make sure that you get as much detail as possible. I did what I did.

[00:22:22]What does that mean? Show me. We'll do a lot of things like that. And you know, when it comes to interrogations, I don't want to tell everybody our secrets, but the reality is this is a case. The only people who know what really happened is going to be the parents and what the doctors saw. The babies cannot talk. The injuries baby sustain will get the information, but we have to clarify how those injuries took place. And the more detail we have, the more information where we have during that interrogation or questioning. So, I don't know how the questioning went. Was he in custody?

[00:22:54]What did happen at the hospital with the the uh when he's just cooperating with the uh you know, he's not in custody? Um what questions are asked? These are things that will come into play and the defense can deal with that part. But when we talk about the care and welfare of the babies and to charge criminality, we want to make sure everything is done.

[00:23:12]We want to make sure that if the injuries are that were sustained by the babies is consistent with what he is tell the the person who we're we're talking to either through an interview or interrogation uh is what happened and that's beneficial because now we can tie that in and as I go back as contrite as he is and we could utilize that in part of our techniques and stuff for interrogations but our you know and that's the one thing as a as a detective and you know one thing one my partners would never do is infant cases refuse absolutely got refused because he would just get so angry. We have to really separate the the sentiments and feelings we have to getting this this investigation done thoroughly without any bias. And that's the one thing we you know it's hard to do but we have to because we want to make sure that criminal case does not show any biases by investigators either pro or con to whatever happened to that incident. We want to make sure we get all the facts.

[00:24:05]The totality of circumstances will lead us to that in uh through that investigation determine guilt or innocence of a person that we're looking at or subject.

[00:24:14]>> Yeah. No. And just this is just such a a frustrating case and I mean it's every kind of negative emotion you can think about when you just read through read through all of it. Retired NYPD detective David Sarnney. Uh we do appreciate your time though helping us talk about this um because these cases tough to talk about but very important to talk about as well. Thanks for being here. Thanks for having me and stay safe.

[00:24:34]>> That will do it for On the Case presented by Law and Crime. Subscribe to us on YouTube and Spotify. I'm Chris Stewart. We'll see you next time.

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