CATOOSA COUNTY, Ga. — A northwest Georgia couple will spend years behind bars after they were convicted of child cruelty.
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On March 27, the couple was convicted of two counts of cruelty to children in the first degree and two counts of cruelty to children in the second degree.
They were sentenced to 20 years in prison. The Lookout Mountain District Attorney’s Office will not release the couple’s names in consideration of the victims’ ages.
The conviction stems from an investigation that began in December 2023.
According to the DA, the couple lived with their teenage children in a mobile home that did not have any heat, hot water, with the only running water in the bathtub.
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Evidence revealed that the home was in a state of disrepair and filth. The Catoosa County Code Enforcement found the home to be unlivable.
The DA said the father was an electrician and testified to making $1,100 to $1,800 a week after taxes.
Court documents also revealed the couple repeatedly punished their teenage children by shooting them with Airsoft guns. They restricted what their daughter could eat and padlocked the refrigerator to stop her from getting food.
The couple’s daughter was also molested by her older half-brother, who bribed her to perform sexual acts in exchange for food, the DA said.
Officials said, although the parents were aware of the molestation, they would leave their daughter alone with her half-brother weekly while staying at another home they owned.
The half-brother was sentenced to life with 25 years to serve.
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“Parents should be the first in line to protect children, but if they fail, we will step into that breach of our most basic foundations of our community,” said District Attorney Clayton Fuller. “The wickedness of a parent who treats their own flesh and blood with such cruelty and neglect will be met here in northwest Georgia with the full force of justice.
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