A Florida dad and his live-in girlfriend are facing serious charges after the man's 14-year-old son was found locked inside a storage shed behind his home. The teen, who has autism, was discovered last week after a disturbing report came in from the Department of Children and Families. Once police arrived at the scene, a DCF officer led them into the backyard, where the 14-year-old boy was discovered locked inside a 6X10 shed, which was said to be in filthy condition.
The discovery happened January 21 at a home in DeSoto County.
Officers with the Arcadia Police Department arrived at the home of 44-year-old Harry Richard Shoemaker and his 36-year-old girlfriend, Jennifer Ann Hines, after being alerted by DCF, according to NBC 2 News.
An investigator who met them at the home, which is at 311 N. Arcadia Ave, quickly led the officers into the backyard, claiming that a teenager was being held against his will inside a shed, NBC 2 News reported.
After unlocking the door from the outside, officers were able to free the 14-year-old boy, whose identity has not been made public because of his age. When they interviewed him about what happened, the details were shocking.
According to the boy, he'd been locked inside the shed for several hours before police arrived.
During that time, he sat surrounded by pieces of trash and tools that were scattered around the shed and had no way of getting out on his own, because the structure could only be locked and unlocked from the outside.
Investigators found a makeshift bed, as well as a bucket filled with human waste, inside the shed — which indicated this may not have been an isolated incident.
After speaking with detectives, the teen confirmed that it certainly wasn't.
The boy told investigators that he slept in the shed "nightly" and was regularly locked inside during the day.
He also claimed that it was Hines who first suggested locking him up for extended periods of time, which his father eventually went along with. Although he was initially kept in a room inside the Arcadia home, Hines allegedly suggested the shed as an alternative when it was purchased for the backyard.
When the teen was discovered, neither his dad nor Hines was at home.
In fact, DCF only became aware the teen was being locked up after a complaint came in from the boy's grandmother, who lives in New York, according to NBC 2 News. A representative was dispatched to the home, at which point police were called.
After he was freed, the teen showed officers around the shed while explaining the conditions he'd been kept in. The shed, which had no electricity or plumbing hooked up, was extremely hot inside, though it did have one window and a small vent. The teen also showed them some snacks and canned soups he'd been given to tide him over while he was inside.
But as he continued to reveal more about the ongoing abuse he suffered — which was allegedly inflicted by both his father and his father's girlfriend — the teen began to relay even more shocking details.
“When talking to the victim, he explained to us, he was like, ‘Hey did you see that bottle of water that was in there?' We were like yeah, we [saw] it. He was like, ‘I was saving that for the weekend because I knew that was the only thing I was going to drink that entire time,” Lt. Troy Carrillo said, NBC 2 News reported.
“And we asked him, ‘Hey where do you use the restroom at? ... He said, 'If I have to urinate, my dad makes me go in the yard. If I have to do something else, he makes me walk to the closest store to use the restroom.'”
When police officers spoke with the boy's father, he initially denied many of his son's claims.
In fact, Shoemaker reportedly told Carillo that he "never locked him in there just in case a fire started." But Carillo, who had already gone over the arrest report with officers, knew that couldn't possibly be the whole story.
"That’s when I explained to him, 'No, the officers had to forcibly open the door because it was locked," Carillo relayed.
At that point, Carillo said the father "tried to justify what he was doing as far as it was his son's fault, because it was his behaviors and stuff that made him put him in the shed."
As for Shoemaker's girlfriend, she reportedly tried to "distance herself from the situation."
According to Carrillo, Hines claimed to have "no knowledge" of anything that had been going on with the teen and denied knowing that he'd been locked inside the shed.
But once again, that didn't exactly jibe with everything the boy was telling police.
"When we spoke to the victim, he told us what her part was and that actually prior in the day, [Shoemaker and Hines] tried to withdraw him from school,” Carrillo shared.
It was not immediately clear, however, what their reasons might have been for doing so.
Shortly after the teen was found in the shed, Shoemaker and Hines were taken into custody.
Both face felony charges of cruelty toward a child and aggravated battery on a child, according to NBC 2 News. They are also each being held on a $75,000 bond and remain behind bars in DeSoto County.
When neighbors heard about the arrests, many were shocked and saddened to learn what was going on right next door.
"It makes me sick to think that while I was sleeping, that little boy was sleeping in that shed," neighbor Sandy Simmons told NBC 2 News. "I can't believe anyone would do a thing like that ... that poor little boy."
This story is tragic in many ways — especially when it comes to the lasting trauma the teen likely will face.
In fact, Dr. Abbe Finn, a counseling director at Florida Gulf Coast University, told NBC 2 that the case is a stark reminder of how special needs members of the community — both young and old — need neighbors, classmates, teachers, and even strangers to keep their eyes open about how they're being cared for at home.
“If they disappear, if they’re not going to school … this is a school-aged child … is he not going to school? So somebody should be asking where is he and what’s going on? How do we know that he’s okay?" Finn explained. "Typically, the longer something’s been going on, the more severe the impact is on the mental health, physical health, and cognitive development [of a person]."
Luckily, the boy has since been moved to New York, where he's now in the care of his grandmother — and, hopefully, on a much better path.
Source: cafemom.com
