A man and a woman, parents of a 7-year-old girl, were arrested for abusing, beating and forcing their little daughter to live in the locked closet in their home.
The police responded at their house after someone reported the incident with serious allegations of how the little girl was treated by her parents.
The man was identified as 32-year-old Jack. B. and the woman was identified as 33-year-old Tiffany C. Both of them were arrested earlier this month and charged with second-degree cruelty to a juvenile, but were released few days later on $25,000 bond each.
According to police, they received a 911 call when someone anonymously reported the incident with serious allegations about how a 7-year-old girl was being treated in her home.
When officers arrived at the house in Louisiana, they found the girl living in substandard conditions and received significant injuries due to the living conditions. It was more than obvious that the parents have abused and beaten her and didn’t really care about their only child. The girl was taken to children’s hospital for examination and medical treatment. No word about her health condition was given since she admitted to hospital.
“This is a situation where a child was kept in a locked closet. That’s what they had for the child. And in a room with puppy pads on the floor for feces and all that,” said District Attorney C. Ballay. The Department of Children and Family Services took the girl under their custody.
“The Department of Children and Family Services cannot comment on, or even acknowledge the existence of, a potential investigation of abuse or neglect involving a child. If there is an investigation, state laws make the entire process – from report to investigation to outcome – confidential,” a spokeswoman for the agency said in a statement. “Our main thing is we know this child is protected now, so it’s not like the child’s going back with either of them now and from my standpoint, hopefully never,” Ballay said.
Ballay added he is happy that someone brought this case to the attention of the authorities. In most of these cases, a good relative or a noisy neighbor might make the 911 call and inform the law enforcement. Also, family services can be called first and they will surely ask for police assistance when visiting homes to check on potential child victims.
Ballay encourages everyone with information about similar cases like this to inform authorities as they take every single case of this type very seriously. We wish the girl in this case speedy recovery.
