A Pennsylvania couple is accused of beating their 6-year-old daughter, starving her for days and zip-lining her and locking her in a dog crate at night, authorities said.
Jacob William Weight Sr., 37, and Mimi Ann Frost, 33, were arrested last week following an “extensive investigation” that began when Pennsylvania State Police troopers were first dispatched to the couple’s Brownsville Borough home on Jan. 7, officials announced.
Weight had called 911 that day, reporting that her daughter was choking and having an apparent seizure when one of the five other children in the home tried to bathe her.
When police later arrived at the scene, they found the suburban home in a “deplorable state,” with feces smeared on the ground, the smell of urine and trash strewn about.
The couple’s niece, who lived in the home with their children, later told officers that the girl had been locked in a dog crate every night and forced to eat dog food.
Investigators found evidence showing the girl “couldn’t get out of the cage” and was “punished” any time she went out to find food, Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele told KDKA.
“For lack of a better way to put it, she was tortured in that house,” he said.
Jacob William Weight Sr., 37, was arrested last week. Mimi Ann Frost, 33, was also arrested following an “extensive investigation.”
Weight did not allow first responders to enter the home, and instead took the young girl out herself, the district attorney said.
He was covered in open wounds and extensive bruising, and appeared malnourished, KDKA reported.
When he arrived at Uniontown Hospital, he was found to be suffering from hypothermia, with his body temperature registering just 88.7 degrees Fahrenheit.
The girl also reportedly had broken and decayed teeth, swollen legs and appeared to have not received childcare in more than three years, according to medical reports obtained by the Observer-Reporter.
Police also stated in the arrest report that doctors at the hospital “stated several times … that she could die from this severe abuse and neglect, and if she were to return to her current environment, she could die from abuse and neglect.”
Police who arrived at the couple’s home in Brownsville Borough on Jan. 7 reported that it was in “deplorable condition” with feces smeared on the ground, the smell of urine and trash strewn about. WTAE
During the subsequent investigation, police said Weight and Frost’s nieces described how the young girl’s mother would zip tie her hands and feet, lock her in a cage naked and refuse to wash her.
The teenager said the floor under the dog’s crate was getting worse because the child’s feces and urine had never been cleaned.
Another child inside the home told officers the couple wanted the girl to eat her own leftovers, according to WTAE.
He never enrolled in school, but once told a therapist he had to eat dog food and sleep in a crate every night.
He also said his father once shot him in the leg with a BB gun, and told police his parents “shot me in the head multiple times with a lighter,” according to court documents obtained by the Observer-Reporter.
Making matters worse for the young girl, Aubele said investigators found evidence that “at least several” other children participated in the abuse.
During the subsequent investigation, police said Weight and Frost’s nieces described how the young girl’s mother would zip-tie her hands and feet, lock her in a cage naked and refuse to wash her. WTAE
He suggested the possibility that some of the children, who range in age from 5 to 17, could also face charges.
“It seems like they were raised with the notion that… this girl… deserves it,” she told WTAE.
Police are still trying to figure out what led the parents to abuse the young girl instead of the other children in the home, Aubele said, calling their actions “very callous.”
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“The child was tortured and we don’t really understand why,” he said.
“What his parents did to him was really horrible,” Aubele added to KDKA. “It’s amazing that a parent can treat a child this way.”
Weight and Frost are now charged with aggravated assault, corruption of a minor, strangulation, endangering the welfare of a child and simple assault.
Seven of their pit bulls were taken to Animal Control on Friday, and all of the children were also removed from the home.
The couple’s children had been taken away by Children and Youth Services at least once before, according to Weight’s brother, Rodney.
“Listen, he did that to his kids,” Rodney told KDKA, saying he loved his brother to death.
“He and his wife deserve what they got. They will answer to the jury about this.”
But Weight insists he is innocent, claiming he never locked his daughter in the crate.
Both he and Frost have been denied bail, according to jail records, and are due back in court on Feb. 20.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
