Oconee County authorities arrested a Bogart couple they say tortured their 12-year-old son, meting out horrific punishment that that included handcuffing him in a closet, shooting him with a pellet gun and pepper-spraying him.
The abuse was "systemic" and happened regularly before the family moved from Athens to Bogart two weeks ago, according to Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry.
Sheriff's deputies arrested the child's mother - a 35-year-old jailer with the Walton County Sheriff's Office - and his 37-year-old stepfather Thursday afternoon, hours after the boy's younger brother told a teacher about the abuse, Berry said Friday.
"This is a very serious case, and as soon as it was brought to our attention we put all available investigative effort into it," Berry said. "Unfortunately, I've seen a lot of horrible things done to children, and this is just as bad, if not worse."
The parents were each charged with first-degree cruelty to children and were held without bail at the Oconee County Jail.
The Banner-Herald is withholding their names to protect the identity of the victim and his brother.
The Department of Family and Children Services took custody of both boys Thursday, the sheriff said.
Though the victim had attended school in both Clarke and Oconee counties, no one noticed the abuse because the boy's clothes covered his injuries, Berry said.
Berry didn't know why the boy never told anyone about the abuse, he said, but it's not uncommon for an abused child to fear retribution if he tells.
The victim's 6-year-old brother told a teacher at his Oconee County school Thursday morning.
"Whatever motivated this case coming to light, I am extremely happy about it," the sheriff said.
The younger boy might have felt more comfortable telling a teacher at a new school or worried that his parents would hurt his brother worse, Berry said.
School officials notified the Oconee County Sheriff's Office about the allegations, and deputies arrested the victim's mother and stepfather at their home shortly after 4:30 p.m. Thursday, Berry said.
Investigators examined the boy and found him covered with marks similar to the wounds a person would have if he was shot with plastic pellets, the sheriff said.
The boy's abusers handcuffed him to a coat rack in a closet then shot him, according to Berry, who said the victim's body was covered with pellet marks, including on his genitals.
He was confined in the closet with the door shut for "significant periods of time," Berry said, and restrained in other parts of the house with ligatures that the sheriff would not describe.
Some of the abuse happened while the boy and his family lived in an extended-stay hotel on Macon Highway, Berry said, but Athens-Clarke police had not joined the investigation as of Friday afternoon.
Berry didn't know how long the family lived in Athens. They moved to Georgia from Florida, and investigators found they lived in Loganville in June 2006, he said.
The victim's mother worked as a Walton County jailer for about five months, Berry said.
Originally published in the Athens Banner-Herald on Saturday, December 13, 2008
No comments:
Post a Comment