GEO executive investigated in son's domestic-violence case

Thomas Wierdsma was asked by a Boulder attorney during a court deposition in 2011 if it was wrong to give false testimony to a federal IC card.

The senior vice president for The GEO Group Inc., the largest provider of contract prison and immigration detention services for the U.S. government, lowered his head and thought for a few seconds before answering.

The GEO Group and his company's close connections with federal immigration authorities to have his former daughter-in-law deported after she reported his son, Charles Wierdsma, to police for domestic violence.

A jury in that civil case last year found Wierdsma guilty of outrageous conduct for the actions he took after his son was arrested and convicted of regularly beating his Hungarian-born wife, Beatrix Szeremi, for more than a year. Boulder District Attorney Stan Garrett's office is investigating Thomas Wierdsma for possible criminal culpability in the matter related to his interference with the victim.

GEO Group contracts with the U.S. government to run 111 for-profit, so-called "turnkey" facilities. They include the Aurora Detention Center that GEO Group operates for Immigration and Customs Enforcement. The company also operates the Southern Peaks Regional Treatment Center in Ca?on City and five reporting centers for supervised detainees around the state.

Group's website as senior vice president of project development for a company that does more than half its business with the federal government and last year reported revenues of $1.48 billion.

Neither Thomas nor Charles Wierdsma's attorneys returned calls asking for comment.

Thomas Wierdsma's jump from behind-the-scenes corporate executive to defendant happened in the spring of 2011 after his then-daughter-in-law fled a beating in her home one morning and called Boulder police, according to a police report.

Szeremi, a Hungarian immigrant with a green card making her a legal resident, had married Charles Wierdsma a year earlier after the two met through the eHarmony Internet dating site.

According to police reports, Charles Wierdsma had repeatedly beaten and threatened to suffocate and drown Szeremi over the course of their marriage before she finally reported the abuse. She told family and friends about the beatings, and they had photographed some of her injuries, but she also told them and investigators that she had been afraid to go to police.

Charles Wierdsma was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, third-degree assault and false imprisonment. A restraining order banned him from having any contact with Szeremi.

Thomas Wierdsma became involved when he tried to evict her from the Boulder home where she and Charles Wierdsma had been living. The elder Wierdsma owned the home. He also pressured her in texts and phone calls to delete photos of her bruised face from her Facebook page, according to court documents.

After she refused, he sent her an e-mail complaining about that and stating: "I will be copying the Department of Homeland Security, Immigration and Customs Enforcement with this and other information. As you know, I funded the legal work and processing fees for you to become a citizen but am now disappointed in your actions which now require legal proceedings."

A week later, the elder Wierdsma, from an Alaskan cruise ship, sent a letter to an attorney representing Szeremi. He wrote that he would be involving ICE, "with all relevant information, including her social media postings, legal actions required for her eviction and other information we possess regarding her application for citizenship."

In court-documented e-mail exchanges between Thomas and Charles Wierdsma during that time, the two discuss how deportation could be used to their advantage.

Charles Wierdsma wrote to his father that Szeremi's attorneys "have threats from our side to use the heavy hand of GEO to get Beatrix out of the country. This should be our bargaining chip going forward, not theirs."

Several weeks later, Thomas Wierdsma wrote: "Let's drop the immigration issue and particularly any involvement of Geo. If I elect to get in touch with immigration after she is evicted, that is my business and in no way related to what is currently going on."

After Thomas Wierdsma began his eviction proceedings against Szeremi, she filed a counterclaim alleging a laundry list of wrongs, including victim intimidation, abuse of process, outrageous conduct and civil conspiracy against Thomas Wierdsma, and assault, battery, false imprisonment, outrageous conduct and negligence against Charles Wierdsma.

That is when the details of the physical abuse as well as the abuse of power got a public airing, including a video of Thomas Wierdsma's threats and deposition admissions that Szeremi's attorney, John Pineau, posted on YouTube.

After a week-long trial, a jury in that civil case found that both Wierdsmas had exhibited outrageous behavior and awarded Szeremi $1.2 million. The judge later lowered the damages to $12,000, based on a state law that limits punitive damages.

Szeremi has appealed that ruling, a matter that is expected to take several more years to move through the court system.

Catherine Olguin of the Boulder District Attorney's Office said an investigator is working the case on the criminal end and that it would likely take several more months before a decision is made about criminal charges against Thomas Wierdsma. If he is charged, it could be tied to witness tampering, witness retaliation or witness intimidation.