US boy 'locked in wardrobe for years'
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Independent Minds
A woman was arrested after her 14-year-son told authorities he escaped from a home where he had spent most of the past four years locked in a wardrobe.
A security guard at a National Guard building in Oklahoma City called police on Friday after the teenager turned up malnourished and with scars and other signs of abuse, police spokesman Gary Knight said.
"He was hungry. He was dirty. He had numerous scars on his body," Mr Knight said. "It was very sad."
The boy was taken to a hospital to be examined and then turned over to the custody of the Department of Human Services.
After police interviews, officers arrested the boy's mother, 37-year-old LaRhonda McCall, and a friend, 38-year-old Steve Hamilton, on 20 complaints each of child abuse and child neglect. Formal charges have not been filed.
The teenager, wearing only a pair of oversized shorts held up by a belt, walked up to a security guard at the Guard facility on Friday afternoon and asked where a police station was located so he could report being abused, according to a police report.
He told police that scars on his stomach and torso were from where alcohol had been poured on him and set on fire. Other scars were from being tied up, hit with an extension cord and choked, the boy told police.
"He had scars covering most of his body," Mr Knight said. "They were basically from head to foot."
The teenager told police he moved to the Oklahoma City area from New Jersey about four-and-a-half years ago after his mother was released from jail. Since arriving in Oklahoma, he said, he had never been to school and spent most of his time locked in a bedroom wardrobe.
He told police the wardrobe door was mostly blocked with a stepladder or a bed and that he managed to push the door open enough to escape and leave the house.
Mr Knight said six other children living at the home were taken into DHS custody, but none showed signs of abuse.
A DHS spokeswoman said she could not discuss specific cases but generally an investigation would be conducted before any of the children are returned to the home or placed with other family members.
"There may be family members, but we do a diligent search, and we're very careful about placing kids in a safe environment," DHS spokeswoman Beth Scott said.
Source: The Belfast Telegraph
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Comments
Mr Knight said six other children living at the home were taken into DHS custody, but none showed signs of abuse.
I thank you
Firozali A. Mulla
"Polanski has served his time"... opines the Movie mogul.
He continues with breathless sycophancy of such unctuousness one wonders if he doesn't wish he could have taken the little girl's place: "Roman Polanski is a man who cares deeply about his art and its place in this world. What happened to him on his incredible path is filled with tragedy, & most men would have collapsed. Instead, he became a great artist..."
My, if the life of the pedophile isn't hard. Society much have it all wrong. Bring back the choir raping Cardinals: Harvey says it's OK.
Harvey must think this little boy was on a four year holiday in that cupboard then.
No school? What favouritism!
When Monty Python wrote that sketch of the prisoner hung upside-down.... you know the one:
"You lucky, lucky b@$*@*d..." it was funny, Harvey. Your article, with it's complete absence of reference to the child victim of a drugging & rape, who pleaded to this 'great artist' be allowed to go home... (Would letting her go not have been artistic, Harvey?)... well words fail me. It wasn't artistic, Harvey. It wasn't civilised.
I am not religious in the slightest but I do think in this case, an eye for an eye would be the only suitable course of punishment - put the mother and her boyfriend in separate wardrobes and bring them out and burn them on a regular basis. What could be more fitting?
Polanski is a pedophile in the eyes of the law, and therefore should be treated as such. The question is, why has he been allowed his freedom for so long? I'm baffled; you can't have one law for the poor, one for the rich.