Miami, United States.
one couple in Florida she was arrested after discovering that she kept him locked up for months to three adolescents, Whom he had just fed, in a case which the county authorities st. Lucie has been described as “horrible,” local media reported Wednesday.
Oscar Torres, 40, and his wife Brittany Kirschenhofer, 32, are being held for several hours a day in the room shared by three teenagers, One 17-year-old and the other 16-year-old twins, whom they also fed sporadically.
“The three teenage victims weighed well below the age-accepted standard,” Brian Hester, deputy chief of the St. Lucie County Sheriff’s Office, south of South Africa, told a news conference on Tuesday. the city of Orlando.
According to authorities, one of the rescued minors weighed only 50 pounds (22 kilos) and suffered from hallucinations. as well as the loss of verbal communication, Muscle control and other bodily functions.
“All medical evaluations confirmed that this condition was a direct result of malnutrition and a power probe is needed to try to get the child to gradually return to the age-appropriate level of nutrition, ”Hester added.
The officer explained that officers discovered one padlock on the door of the room shared by the three victims, And that the couple stated that they put the locks in the room to keep the dogs contained and so all the children could move freely around the house.
physical abuse
“The statements of one of the victims indicated that at least one of the three victims suffered some physical abuse“Revealed Hester, who added that according to the story of one of the teenagers they had to” secretly dig for leftover food. “
According to police, the minors had not left the house at least since December and were attending school classes virtually.
The three teenagers they are children of Torres and they have been handed over to their biological mother, who did not know what was going on with her children after being isolated from them, according to police.
Two other minors, aged 9 and 6, also lived in the house. and biological children of Kirschenhofer, Those who apparently were not victims of this “appalling case of child negligence“As Hester said, and have been handed over to relatives.
The couple, that she remains detained without bail, Faces three charges of child abuse and neglect.
Authorities were alerted to this case on February 10 following an anonymous warning, after which the Florida Department of Minors and Families rescued the children from the home on February 22nd.