DARLINGTON — The father of two babies who spent most of their early months alone and starving in their bedroom was sentenced Feb. 4 in Lafayette County Circuit Court to 15 years in prison.
After he gets out of prison, Dalton Allen Hopper, 25, Belmont, is ordered to spend five years on extended supervision and a consecutive five years on probation, for a total of 25 years under state supervision. He is barred from contact with anyone younger than 18, including his children, during this time.
He pleaded guilty in November to a Class C felony charge of child abuse and a Class F felony charge of chronic neglect of a child. Other similar charges were dismissed as part of a plea agreement. He faced up to 52 and a half years imprisonment.
The mother of the children, Jamie Lee Weigel, 27, pleaded guilty and entered a similar plea deal in October. She is scheduled for sentencing Feb. 14.
District Attorney Jenna Gill argued the parents are equally culpable for neglecting the girls, who were 14 months old and 4 months old last March when an alarmed relative forced Hopper and Weigel to take their emaciated babies to a hospital.
According to the criminal complaint, Hopper was away working long hours during the week while Weigel was home alone with their children, but Weigel texted him constantly, told him the babies weren’t eating and repeatedly mentioned wanting to hurt and beat them. They got human interaction and were fed as infrequently as once a day.
“He knew she avoided the children all day long and left them in their room,” Gill said. According to the criminal complaint, Hopper knew Weigel ignored their screaming and that she wasn’t bathing them or taking them to doctor appointments. He also told police he had witnessed Weigel spank one and yell at both to shut up.
Judge Duane Jorgenson sentenced Hopper as Gill recommended, with an additional and consecutive five years on probation. He noted that even when Hopper was home on evenings and weekends, he did nothing for his daughters.
“You knew exactly what was going on,” Jorgenson told Hopper. Jorgensen also noted that Hopper and Weigel had access to free medical care for their children and were receiving formula, baby food and diapers through a state-funded program.
“You had everything you needed at your disposal. You had access to WIC. You had access to BadgerCare. ... There was absolutely no reason for these children to be malnourished,” Jorgenson said.
As a father to four children and seven grandchildren, Jorgenson said he found the treatment of the girls incomprehensible.
“I just can’t imagine the pain and agony these children went through,” he said.
‘Just trying to protect Jamie’
Hopper and Weigel were engaged and lived together on Market Street in Belmont. Neither has a prior criminal record, but Weigel was previously investigated in 2015 for a similar child neglect case related to malnutrition and starvation of two 5-year-old girls, not twins but born to her in quick succession like her children with Hopper, according to Gill. Weigel was not criminally charged in that case.
The criminal complaints against Hopper and Weigel, filed last April, describe the dire health consequences the babies suffered from months of neglect. The case came to the attention of authorities March 23, when a doctor at Upland Hills Health in Dodgeville called the Lafayette County Sheriff’s Office to report a “very thin and malnourished” 4-month-old who “should have received medical attention much sooner.”
The 4-month-old was born healthy but had not been seen by a doctor since she was two days old. She weighed less than seven pounds, less than she did at birth. A detective described her as lethargic with “little to no fat or muscle tissue between her skin and bones” and dark red chemical burns caused by prolonged exposure to urine and feces in dirty diapers.
Her 14-month-old sister weighed just under 15 pounds, which is in the 0.23 percentile for her age. She showed signs of malnutrition and starvation as well as significant developmental delays. She had severe diaper rash and skin lesions from improperly treated eczema. She had not been seen by a doctor since her two-month checkup.
UW Health Physician Assistant Amanda Palm said the 4-month-old had bed sores and rashes consistent with an infant lying in one place without being picked up for hours on end.
She was so starved her body was about to start feeding on itself and she could have died in as little as a week’s time.
Palm, who specializes in child protection cases, told detectives that in five years in her position at the hospital it was next to the worst case of neglect and malnutrition she had seen.
Hopper told police he didn’t take the children to see a doctor because he was “trying to protect Jamie” and didn’t want to “piss Jamie off.” He said he chose his relationship needs with Weigel over the health and safety of his children and it had not occurred to him that the babies might suffer long-term injuries from their lack of care.
A psychological evaluation of Hopper revealed he does not have the empathy or other necessary characteristics to parent children, Gill said at his sentencing.
“There are so many wonderful people who wish to conceive their own children and cannot. They struggle through fertility treatments and go through adoption processes just to be able to have children, and in this case we have Mr. Hopper and Ms. Weigel, who were blessed with the ability to have children and did not properly love or care for them,” Gill said.
The context: A chaotic upbringing
Timothy Angel, Hopper’s defense attorney, said his client’s lack of empathy “really goes back to his upbringing,” and that while there is no excuse for the neglect the babies suffered, “it’s important to take these things in context.”
Hopper grew up in a chaotic home, was abandoned by his alcoholic father at age 1 and was verbally, emotionally and physically abused by his alcoholic stepfather, who routinely drank a 30-pack of beer in a night, Angel said.
In 2018, shortly before the birth of Hopper’s younger daughter, his mother divorced his stepfather. The stepfather had been recently convicted of sexually abusing and exploiting Hopper’s sister.
“I don’t know anybody that can experience those kinds of things and not come out without major problems that need to be addressed,” Angel said. “My own observation about him is he’s been a bit avoidant.”
Angel pointed to Hopper’s good characteristics: no criminal record, no past of drug addiction, a close relationship with his mother and, overall, a hard worker who has consistently been employed since the age of 16. Hopper joined the military but had to quit after his asthma prevented him from running an 8-minute mile.
Angel asked for a sentence in the county jail and a lengthy period of probation during which Hopper could get counseling.
Jackie Hopper, his grandmother, also spoke at the sentencing hearing.
“He’s helped his grandpa and I quite a bit. We’re getting up there in age,” she said, adding that her grandson was also helpful to neighbors and seemed to enjoy truck-driving a lot.
As for the neglect, she acknowledged her grandson’s involvement and his need for punishment but said she didn’t understand why it happened.
“He was always very proud of his children,” she said.
When given the opportunity to speak, Hopper’s voice was choked by emotion.
“I realize that my mistakes will have lasting effects on my daughters. I not only betrayed their trust, I betrayed the trust of my family who trusted me, who trusted me to care for my daughters, and I did not do that. I love my daughters. ... Not a day goes by when I don’t think about what happened,” he said. “Eventually if I am allowed to see them again … I’ll explain to them what happened, and if they decide they don’t want anything to do with me, I’ll respect that decision.”
Jorgensen acknowledged Hopper’s “unfortunate upbringing” and his strong work ethic but was unswayed by Angel’s appeal for probation.
“What I didn’t hear is that while you were growing up you went without food or drink or care, particularly at a very young age,” Jorgenson said to Hopper. Even in the face of childhood traumas, eventually “you become an adult and you take on responsibilities of an adult.
“I think your work ethic got in the way of a much stronger responsibility (to your children). I think you buried yourself in your work and chose to ignore what was right in front of you,” Jorgenson said.
Victims too young to speak for themselves
The victims in the case have been with a foster family since last April and are improving under an intensive regimen of treatment and therapies, according to a statement read in court from the foster parents.
The younger girl, now “cute and chubby,” turned 1 in November. Her sister turned 2 in January, can run and climb stairs, count to 10 and name some colors, is learning basic phrases and “babbles excitedly” when she sees her foster father.
This progress is thanks to an investment of “significant time and energy” by the foster parents. They reserve one to two days weekly for medical appointments and spend time every day on therapy and development exercises.
The babies arrived in their home with intense physical and emotional deficiencies due to their neglect. In the early months, the parents woke up throughout the night to feed the younger girl and gently massaged baby oil daily behind her knee and shoulder joints to help her build strength. If she suffers any long-term consequences of her malnourishment, a “cognitive impact is most likely but by no means certain.”
The older girl struggled with attachment issues and with basic skills like chewing and self-regulating when eating. It is “likely she will always be smaller than her peers.”
Gill emphasized the importance of hearing the foster parents’ statement in court.
“These children cannot speak for themselves,” Gill said. The girls were “in a crucial development stage at the time this neglect occurred” and “the foster parents have proven themselves to be very loving, nurturing people.
“Through their care, the children have had a chance to thrive and succeed in life. ... The emotional damage done to these children should not be ignored today. These foster parents continue to devote their lives to these children when the defendant didn’t.”