Crystal Lake man gets jail for battering foster child, says he did ‘everything’ he could to help troubled boy

A Crystal Lake man who was found guilty of pulling and bruising the ears of one of his former foster children – and who said during his sentencing Tuesday that he also was a foster child – received 30 days in jail and 24 months of conditional discharge.

In July, David Thomforde, 57, was found guilty of misdemeanor domestic battery involving physical contact and bodily harm, although on Tuesday he denied that any abuse took place. He is required to serve the jail time at 100% and was ordered to pay a $75 fine and fees as well as attend a parenting program.

He was accused of abusing the child, now 6, in November 2022, after the child had come to live with Thomforde’s family from another foster family in June 2021, according to courtroom testimony.

During Thomforde’s sentencing hearing, Assistant State’s Attorney Maggie O’Brien referred to expert testimony at the trial indicating that the child, then 5, had dark bruises on his ears that were “not accidental” or self-inflicted.

O’Brien said Thomforde was accused of smearing feces on the child’s face after he had an accident and vomit on him after he threw up. O’Brien said the abuse occurred when Thomforde’s wife was not around.

O’Brien also noted expert testimony that the child had been abused and asked the court to “imagine how hard his ears had to be pulled” to show such bruising.

Being a foster parent is not always easy, but Thomforde, O’Brien said, “signed up for it.” What he did was “deplorable,” the prosecutor said. ”He was supposed to protect him.”

Other children in the home, whom he did not abuse, said they loved him and they cried for him, O’Brien said. But, she added, that is because he chose to abuse only this one child.

The child who was abused is with a new foster family and suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, among other mental health issues; fears men; and has nightmares, according to courtroom testimony.

Thomforde stood before Judge Michael Feetterer and said: “Nobody here knows who I am. I was a foster child.”

He added that his foster parents adopted him.

“I was one of the lucky ones,” Thomforde said.

He denied ever hurting the child and said he thinks about him and the other foster children since removed from his home. He said that when the child he is accused of hurting came to their home from another foster home, he was “very, very troubled.” The Thomfordes put him in four different day cares, and he was asked to leave each one because he was “very violent” with other children, teachers and one parent of another student, Thomforde said. He and his wife “tried everything” and “begged for help.”

They eventually learned that before entering into the foster system, the child was found in a basement of a drug house in a dirty diaper. He was “severely dehydrated.” Thomforde said the family also learned that the child would be put into a closet at night, with a blanket over his head so he could not see or hear what his mother was doing. Thomforde said he and his wife put the boy into various types of therapies and a sleep study, and he saw a pediatrician.

“He needed a lot of help. We were his third placement,” Thomforde said, adding that he gave up a promotion to be able to spend more time with the child.

“We did everything we possibly could to help him. Ultimately, we were not successful. I have worked with children my entire life,” Thomforde said, referring to coaching and church work. “Never, ever have I been accused of what I’ve been accused of. We lost our children. Not our foster children – they were our children. We would have adopted him.”

In sentencing Thomforde, the judge said he considered that Thomforde has no criminal history and has lost his reputation, family and friends due to the allegations against him. But the judge said he needed to impose a jail sentence that would send a message to the community and other foster parents who abuse that it “will not be tolerated.”

“Their lives are not good to begin with. ... These children are fragile. [They] are broken. It can be trying, and they need love,” Feetterer said.