Woman sentenced for forcing 9-year-old step-son to live in ‘dog lot’

In a strange incident that went viral online, a woman was sentenced after forcing her 9-year-old step-son to live outside in ‘dog lot’ for months.

The county deputies responded to a home about reports of a 9-year-old boy locked in a dog kennel.

An anonymous person called 911 just before 7 a.m. who told them about the child and said that her husband had taken the child some food “in the past.”

When deputies found the child, they broke into the padlocked kennel to get to him to safety.

“There were some clothes that were in bits and pieces, a little bit of food was inside, but not enough to sustain warmth for this child,”.

The woman who was identified as Sarah Starr along with the boy’s father, Jonathan Starr, and Shelley Lucille Barnes, the homeowner and Sarah Starr’s aunt, was arrested after deputies found the 9-year-old barefoot, wearing only a T-shirt and jeans, in a cage outside of a home on Crest Road on a night when temperatures reached below freezing.

Judge Richard Gottleib ordered that Starr get a mental health assessment and that she follow any treatment plan and seek anger management counseling. She cannot contact the victim and must submit a DNA sample.

The judge said he had never seen something so horrific. He said, as a parent, he was horrified and said the facts of the case will haunt him for the rest of his judicial career.

from ARY NEWS https://ift.tt/ngFGWrZ