and happened right in our town!!
Its terrible that parents could be so cruel and also these parents were foster parents with adopted children.


Tuesday, March 22, 5:28 p.m.
By Julie Sidoni
Parents Charged with Abusing Their Children

Investigators in Wayne County released details of a disturbing case of child abuse Tuesday. It includes children locked in a basement, burned with cigarettes and beaten with a broom. Now two people are charged with abusing their own children.

Newswatch 16 is not identifying the victims in this case. They are of school age and could be harmed by the publicity.

"The amount of abuse going on in Wayne County and in Pennsylvania, I think communities would be surprised to know," said Denise Larson. Her job at the Wayne County Victims Intervention Center is educating people on how to spot child abuse.

A couple from outside Forest City is charged with physically abusing their sons, ages 13 and 15, both high school students. They are now in protective custody. Court papers state the boys say their parents locked them in a basement, beat them with a broom handle, threatened to kill them and made them sleep on metal crates. They also say they were made to do chores outside in the winter wearing no shirts. Once they were burned with cigarettes when those chores weren't done right.

According to the same court papers, it was the boys own grandmother who finally called authorities, and told them they were being abused in their home in Clinton Township. When police interviewed the victims, they told them the abuse had been happening for more than four years.

Larson is not surprised they never reported the abuse. Often, she says, older child victims have more fears than the younger ones. "They can think about the future. Where I think when you're younger and you tell, you're not thinking of those things," Larson added.

The victims in this case are adopted children. Court papers show the couple also has two biological children who have never reported abuse. Both defendants have made bail, and are awaiting a hearing next week.

By Cat on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 09:11 am:

By Reeciecup on Wednesday, March 23, 2005 - 09:18 am:

This breaks my heart... I think there is a special place in he** for people who abuse kids and animals.