Vidor man sentenced to 30 days in doghouse

Vidor man sentenced to 30 days in doghouse

Associated Press

ORANGE -- Curtis Robin Sr. was headed from the courthouse to the doghouse today for whipping his stepson with a car antenna and possibly forcing him to stay outside.

Robin made a deal with prosecutors last month to spend 30 consecutive nights, starting tonight, in a 2-foot by 3-foot doghouse after pleading guilty to injury to a child so he could avoid jail time and continue working as a foreman for a demolition company.

The boy, Zachary Weigers, now nearly 13 and living with his father in Florida, initially told investigators Robin forced him to sleep in a doghouse without food when he was 11. He later recanted that story, and Robin denied making him sleep outdoors. Robin, however, didn't deny the other allegations.

"He was whipped and he was spanked, and that's what happened," Robin said, though he apologized for punishing the boy excessively.

The boy was not in court today, but his father and maternal grandfather made statements after state District Judge Buddie Hahn handed down the sentence.

"I got a boy two years ago who was afraid, who had been beaten down, who had been abused pretty bad," the father, Rex Wiegers, told the court.

However, after a tough time during sixth grade back home in Hope Sound, Fla., Zach has rebounded, his father said.

"Whatever abuse, whatever power this gentleman tried to force on him, it didn't matter," Wiegers said, looking at Hahn for most of his speech.

Pat Anzaldi, the boy's grandfather, of Hollywood, Fla., noted that while Robin almost certainly will not be able to fit himself entirely inside the doghouse, he will be allowed a sleeping bag, mosquito netting, plastic tarp or similar protective items.

"I know Mr. Robin was is really concerned with mosquito netting and weather, but my grandson was not provided the same treatment," he said.

Rain was in the forecast tonight and through the weekend, though spring temperatures have taken hold in the region. A wet winter already has made for an early mosquito season.

Robin mentioned two notarized letters from Zachary recanting his allegations of being forced to stay in a doghouse and being denied food. Anzaldi said it was more likely Zachary was forced to do difficult yard labor for long hours without a break and at least once had to take refuge from the elements in a doghouse at the home in nearby Vidor, about 85 miles east of Houston.

Authorities finally pulled Zachary -- filthy and covered with mosquito bites -- out of the home in August 2001 after a neighbor reported seeing him working in a driving rain, court records say.

Wiegers angrily disputed the letters in a hallway outside the courtroom, shouting at Robin that they were coerced by the boy's mother, who Anzaldi believes remains with Robin.

"Yes, Zachary slept in the doghouse," Wiegers said.

During the hearing, prosecutor Phillip Smith and defense attorney Keith Ellis dickered at Hahn's bench over the size of the doghouse. Ellis said an average-sized man could not fit into the state's doghouse, where Robin must spend each night from 10 p.m. to 5 a.m., with Vidor police assigned to randomly make sure he's there.

Phillip responded that the required doghouse was the largest commercially available unit built and that a dog had lived in it, but not recently.

"We didn't want to displace anybody for Mr. Robin," Phillip said.

Robin also will serve eight years' probation and pay a $1,000 fine. The sentence is deferred, meaning it will be erased from his record if he completes his probation, but he is liable for up to the maximum 10 years in prison if he violates the terms.