Rimer boys to leave shelter for ‘safe place’
By BRIAN HAYNES
Four boys who have been in protective custody since their brother died after 17 hours in the family vehicle will leave the Child Haven shelter, but they won't return to their family home.
Under an agreement reached Friday by lawyers in the case, the children of Stanley and Colleen Rimer will move to an undisclosed location in the Las Vegas Valley for the foreseeable future.
"They're going to a safe place that we all agreed upon," Deputy District Attorney Mary Brown said.
The placement will allow the boys, ages 9 to 15, to continue counseling and church activities, such as Boy Scouts, said Lew Wolfbrandt, Stanley Rimer's lawyer.
The boys had wanted to return to their northeast Las Vegas home and live with their uncle, Phillip Rimer, but concerns about media scrutiny if they moved back to the house factored in the decision to send them elsewhere, Wolfbrandt said.
"It's a very close, tight family, and it's bothered them tremendously," Wolfbrandt said of the media coverage of the Rimer family.
Two weeks ago, Wolfbrandt said potential placements included foster care and the St. Jude's Ranch for Children in Boulder City.
The boys had been at the county-run shelter since June 9, the day their 4-year-old brother, Jason, was found dead in the family's sport utility vehicle. Authorities believe the family forgot Jason was in the vehicle after coming home after church despite his physical and mental disabilities.
Stanley and Colleen Rimer, who appeared at Friday's hearing in shackles and jailhouse blues, have been indicted on charges of second-degree murder and child neglect in their son's death and ongoing neglect of their other children.
The children lived in a filthy, foul-smelling house cluttered with furniture, tools, dirty clothes and animals, and they were provided minimal food, were verbally abused and had lice, according to the indictment.
The couple also meted out "excessive" corporal punishment, the indictment states.
The Department of Family Services had 21 contacts and referrals involving the Rimers going back more than two decades.
Contact reporter Brian Haynes at bhaynes@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0281.
