Jessica Boehm

The Republic | azcentral.com

A young Mesa boy, dead set against completing his chores, ran away from home late one night last year and hid in his neighbor's bushes for more than 12 hours.

His parents, Janna and Brian Bentley, now face child neglect charges, accused of failing to contact the police within a reasonable period of time after their son went missing. They could face up to six months in jail.

A video sweeping across Facebook accuses the Mesa Police Department and city prosecutor of overzealous behavior and a "gross abuse of power" in prosecuting the Bentleys. The video has been viewed more than 117,000 times, and more than a dozen neighbors and friends have contacted the city to insist that the Bentleys are upstanding parents who are victims of government overreach.

"In my mind, the city is trying to arrest Ward and June Cleaver. Or Mom and Pop Walton," neighbor Gary Porter said, comparing the Bentleys to the wholesome families featured in "Leave it to Beaver" and "The Waltons."

Mesa police recommend charges

An Arizona Department of Child Safety caseworker responded to the Bentley home after the boy was found but did not remove any of the Bentleys' children. The department can remove a child only if it finds “an unreasonable risk of harm” to a child’s health or life, according to state law.

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But Mesa police recommended the city prosecutor charge the parents with child neglect — and he did.

In a police report, Mesa detectives suggested the parents did not realize the gravity of the disappearance of their son, who is younger than 10 years old.

"Neither Janna or Brian seemed to understand the seriousness of their ... child being gone all night," a Mesa family advocate detective said in the report.

An excerpt of a report purportedly written by a DCS caseworker appears to echo the police detective's sentiment that the parents didn't grasp the significance of the boy's long absence.

"There is concern the parents will not contact the authorities if (the child) runs away again. There is concern the family's religion/faith impairs their judgment," according to the document posted on a Facebook page supporting the Bentleys.

Neither city or state officials nor the family would comment about the case. But police reports and body-camera video show that the boy's parents and public-safety and child-welfare officials called to the home saw the situation in strikingly different terms.

An 'impulsive child'

On March 31, 2016, one of the Bentleys' seven children fled their house about 9:15 p.m. after his mother asked him to complete his chores, according to the police report.

It was common for the boy to hide around the house when he was upset, but after about 45 minutes, Janna Bentley became concerned, she told police. She searched her home and property until about 2 a.m., when her husband returned from work. The two continued looking for another hour and then went to sleep, the police report said.

They woke around 7 a.m. to find the boy had not returned. They searched unsuccessfully for another hour with neighbors and friends and then decided to call police.

Bentley made the call, sounding worried. She told a police dispatcher that her son is an "impulsive child" who often runs off or hides in their backyard. But he had never been missing for this long.

"This is very unusual. I am so surprised we haven't found him," Bentley said in the 911 call. "I feel relatively calm, considering."

She described what the boy was wearing and said his pillow and green blanket were missing from his room. The dispatcher assured her that officers were on the way and would meet her at her house.

During the search, a police officer asked Bentley why she didn't call the police before going to bed, she said, "I prayed about it and felt calm." She also told the officer that God told her that her son was safe, according to the report.

The officer noted that Bentley did not appear concerned about her son's disappearance but rather embarrassed that so many people were at her home searching for the child.

Police dispatched a helicopter to perform an aerial check of the area and made announcements from a PA system notifying the neighborhood of the disappearance.

Police discovered that several juvenile sex offenders lived in a group home two houses from the Bentleys. When an officer asked Janna Bentley if she knew about the home, she said she did, but she did not go to the house and ask if they had seen her son until after she called the police in the morning.

About 10:15 a.m., a neighbor found the boy hiding behind a bush in a nearby front yard. He had stayed outside throughout the night with his pillow and blanket while temperatures reached a low of 41 degrees.

Boy's behavior questioned

When Brian Bentley picked up his son, the boy flailed his arms and legs. In the report, police said, "he appeared to be fighting to get away from Brian" and noted his behavior "did not appear to be normal."

Police body-camera video from the incident shows Brian Bentley trying to calm the boy in a family bathroom shortly after he was found. The child tried to get away from his father and hid in the corner of the shower.

"You're not leaving. You aren't — just understand that. Just stand in the corner and put your face in there and hide, that's fine," Brian Bentley told the boy in the video.

In the video, a police officer asked Brian Bentley if his son's behavior was normal.

"Not to this extent, but he's never done something like this before. He does get a little hyperactive ... and throw a tantrum," the father said.

"Is this normal for you, bud?" Brian Bentley asked his son. The boy responded with a grunt.

The Mesa Fire Department came to the home to transport the boy for medical evaluation, but the Bentleys hesitated, according to the police report.

Body-camera footage shows both parents arguing with police and a DCS caseworker over the need to transport the child. Brian Bentley insisted the child was just scared.

"Can you consider our position?" he asked police. "He now has how many strangers in his house? How do you think a (young child) is going to react?"

Eventually, the Bentleys agreed to allow the boy to be medically evaluated, according to the report. His mother accompanied him to Cardon Children's Medical Center.

A forensic interviewer spoke with the boy and two of the Bentleys' other children, who police removed from school without notifying the Bentleys.

The runaway boy told the interviewer that he left the house the night before because he got in trouble for not doing his "jobs" at home, according to the police report. He said he'd run away from home more than twice before because he doesn't like doing chores, "because he is the only one who has to do them."

All three children interviewed denied drug and alcohol usage, domestic violence, physical abuse or sexual abuse at their home, the police report said.

Police submitted a complaint to the Mesa City Prosecutor's Office indicating that there was probable cause to charge the Bentleys with child endangerment because of their "actions and inactions" — including going to sleep while the boy was still missing and failing to call the police for nearly 12 hours.

Janna and Brian Bentley face misdemeanor charges of assisting delinquency and child neglect. They are scheduled to appear May 15 before a Mesa Municipal Court judge.

'Steamrolled by the government'

Porter, the couple's next-door neighbor, was part of the search party looking for the child in the morning. He said between church members and neighbors, nearly 200 people were looking for him. The boy eventually was found in Porter's bushes.

Porter said he's known the Bentleys for seven years and the child has run away at least three or four times. It's just his nature, Porter said.

"This little guy — he's quite the adventurer. This is kind of what he does," he said. "He just likes to explore and he likes to hide. This was not unusual; this is what he does. He always comes home."

Porter said he was shocked by Mesa's decision to pursue charges against the family, when it was clear to him that the children had a safe home with loving parents.

"I just wish there would have been a little bit more common sense and compassion for a mother and father who had been without their son," he said.

Public Integrity Alliance, an Arizona non-profit, created the Facebook video about the Bentleys and continues to provide publicity about the case, according to Tyler Montague, the group's president.

WATCH: Video about the Bentleys

"It's the type of story that has broader application than just them. We don't like to see someone getting steamrolled by the government," Montague said.

He said since the group shared the Bentleys' story, they've heard many other anecdotes of the "random, capricious sort of enforcement" done by the Department of Child Safety, or other agencies, such as the Mesa police and prosecutor.

"Sometimes they go after less threatening situations where they ignore true abusive and dangerous homes," Montague said.

He said the overwhelming reaction his group has received from viewers is that "maybe (the Bentleys) should have called police sooner, but the prosecution response is way over the top. It's kind of a universal sentiment."

Prosecutor offers general comments

City prosecutor John Belatti declined to comment specifically on the case but said that generally, pressing charges is the prosecutor's only option to "force a conversation between the two parties."

The city can pursue jail time, probation and fines, although there are alternative ways to resolve a case that could avoid these penalties, he said.

For example, the city and defendant could negotiate ahead of trial to get education or counseling or a suspended sentence. Additionally, a judge could order a different option in lieu of jail times, probation or fines.

Belatti said typically when cases involve child safety, they unfold in one of two ways: Someone who is concerned will contact DCS and department officials will respond, possibly bringing in law enforcement later if DCS investigators believe there was criminal behavior. Or, as was the case with the Bentleys, law-enforcement officers are called to respond to an issue and decide to involve DCS if they believe a child is in danger or at risk.

Each agency writes its own report — law enforcement from a criminal perspective, DCS from a safety perspective.

DCS would not comment as to whether there was an open investigation on the Bentleys, but the children were not removed from the home, according to the police report.

Mesa police also would not comment on the case.

According to police, 90 people in Mesa were arrested or charged with misdemeanor child neglect in 2016.

In a statement, Mayor John Giles said he'd been briefed on the case, but "it would be inappropriate for me to interfere with the pending judicial process. I am hopeful that through the judicial process, including a good-faith pretrial dialogue, a fair and just resolution can be achieved."