Ohio girl's email for help leads to arrest of 3 on child abuse charges

[Capt. Obvious]

Source: Associated Press

Two Ohio parents and a grandmother have been arrested on child abuse charges after authorities say they tied three home-schooled children to their beds for weeks at a time, beat their naked bodies with belts and paddles, and deprived them of food.

The 44-year-old man arrested in the case also is charged with raping his two stepdaughters, ages 9 and 11, and abusing their 8-year-old brother.

He was the father of only one child in the Wheelersburg home, a 2-year-old girl.

....

The Scioto County Sheriff's Office in southern Ohio says they learned about the alleged abuse after one of the older girls sent an email for help to a teacher at the children's online school.


Read more: http://www.wvah.com/newsroom/ohnews/201402121738_cab126d.shtml

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Ohio

[stg81]

1. well…as long as the parents weren't gays or lesbians…

Why does this never enter the discussion? Gays aren't fit to be parents?? There are plenty of STRAIGHT people unfit to be parents.

[snooper2]

6. people do horrible things regardless of their sexual orientation

the two things are mutually exclusive

[get the red out]

2. Homeshool

I know there are good home-schools; but so many times it seems home-school is a way to try get by with some kind of abuse.

[get the red out]

14. I know of some successes also

I don't know what the answer is, but in both the cases I know of, and yours, if there were more strict requirements to be met in order to home-school, they would have been met easily. Both couples I have known personally who home schooled were highly educated and had good reasons for choosing that path.

I wish there was some method in place to ensure that kids are not abused by this right.

[JDPriestly]

3. Horrible. Is the family Christian fundamentalist?

Or just too lazy and anti-social to take their children to school every day?

[VA_Jill]

8. Probably the former

and likely disciples of Michael and Debi Pearl *shudder*
http://rachelheldevans.com/blog/michael-debi-pearl-abuse

[freshwest]

4. Fortunately the online teacher had a belief system that trumphed that of some homeschool fanatics.

It will be hell for all these kids for years to come.

Suspect the abusers will get off with little time locked up, if any at all, for this. I'm jaded on how these cases work out.

The best sentences passed out were in CA for the home schoolers who killed one of their kids. But they didn't get life after that they did.

Another one in WA, likewise, came nowhere near what they deserved for the torture and agony the kids suffered at the hands of the fanatics.

[dembotoz]

5. we went to a home shool conference a few years back

the total lack of regulation for home schools is shocking

those kids are damn lucky the teacher did not just send the report back to the parents.

not sure if reporting requirements for abuse exist for these folks

[theHandpuppet]

7. Here's an article from the local paper

http://www.portsmouth-dailytimes.com/news/home_top-news/3062364/Children-tied-up-abused-in-home;-3-arrested

[KinMd]

9. If I were a cop I'd end up in prison myself...

[Delphinus]

10. Yeah, I hear you.

But, at times, I think it would be worth it.

[wheniwasincongress]

11. Thank god the teacher reported to police

(I assume that's how it came to knowledge.) Unfortunately I think a lot of people would ignore it or contact the parents about it.

[mackerel]

13. There is no cure for a sociopath

They're born that way.