Three Ohioians face Felony Child Endangerment

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**dietrich**

From the 'what the f--- is wrong with people?' category. I just find this tragic and mind-boggling. How three people could let this happen?

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/07/22/baby_bonds.ART_ART_07-22-09_B3_L6EHVVN.html?sid=101

A judge set high bail yesterday for three suspects charged with the abuse of a 6-week-old girl who lost two toes to suspected rat bites.

Pike County Court Judge Cassandra Bolt-Meredith set bail at $210,000 each for Todd C. Trent, 18; Joseph Gunter, 33; and Tina Gunter, 29. Each is charged with child endangering.

Noting public outrage over the case, Prosecutor Rob Junk said, "Probably the safest place for them right now is jail." The suspects are being held in the Ross County jail at Chillicothe.

The infant, Leann Lowe, is being treated at Nationwide Children's Hospital in Columbus for extensive bites to her left foot and back that apparently were inflicted over an extended period, authorities said.

Deputy sheriffs also arrested Trent for obstructing official business and tampering with evidence, but those charges have been dropped. A grand jury will review the case and more arrests may be forthcoming, Junk said.

Children services officials are expected to seek permanent custody of the infant, who lived in the mobile home with her 17-year-old mother and Trent, whom authorities described as the mother's boyfriend. He is not the child's father. Children services officials also removed the mother's 2-year-old from the home.

The Gunters had been staying in the mobile home west of Piketon recently, Junk said.

**Kilkrazy**

The first word I thought of would not get past the censor.

**dietrich**

I hope they get long stays in the pokey.

**barlio**

I hope they get long, painful pokings while in the pokey.

Crimes like this should warrant public beatings (by the public, ideally).

**Neferteila**

barlio wrote:I hope they get long, painful pokings while in the pokey.

Crimes like this should warrant public beatings (by the public, ideally).

It would start a civil war with too many people screaming "But, its not the parent's fault! The mother was only 17! She was depressed, post partum depression made it ok for her to let rats eat her daughters toes!"
While the other half of the mob will be busy torching the trailer for fear of the black plauge.

ETA:
Wait a minute.. I just reread that. There was a second child of 2yrs old removed as well?! And the 17yr old mother isn't facing prosecution, only the other three in the house? Who the hell were the other 2, if the 18yr old was her boyfriend?
And WHY the frell isn't the mother being charged? *facepalms* I hate the world sometimes.
This is why I sit home on the computer. Because there are too many stupid and cruel people in the world.

**dietrich**

Some more info. I don't understand how you can be so f-ed up to not do something about this. Certainly, the kid was screaming - alot.

http://www.dispatch.com/live/content/local_news/stories/2009/07/20/bitten_baby.html#Scene_1

Doctors said the child's injuries apparently occurred over an extended period, said Pike County Sheriff Richard Henderson. The infant's left foot and back were badly injured, and she had bite marks from what appeared to be rats on other parts of her body, Henderson said.

Trent lived in the Red Bridge Road mobile home, west of Piketon, with the baby and her 17-year-old mother, said Pike County Prosecutor Rob Junk. Trent is not the infant's father, Junk said.

A grandparent of the child told WBNS-TV (Channel 10) that Joseph and Tina Gunter also lived in the trailer but were not related to the infant. The mobile home belongs to the 17-year-old mother's aunt, the station reported.

The mother has not been charged, but investigators said additional arrests are possible.

"Every adult in that house is being looked at," Junk said. The child's wounds indicate that adults knew she was being injured and did little or nothing to protect her, he said.

Authorities also seized two dogs from the mobile home - a Chihuahua and a boxer mix, Junk said. They are investigating whether they might have bitten the child.

Authorities learned of the girl's injuries early Sunday from an anonymous tipster and then went to the mobile home about 60 miles south of Columbus.

**barlio**

Oooh this is another can-of-worms for me.

I will bet a million-gazzilion-gadillion dollars that the two dogs were fed better and received more love on a daily basis than either of the two children.

Seriously some people need to be shot.

**dietrich**

I don't know about shot, but they definitely should be taken out of the genepool for good.

**barlio**

Sorry stories like this get my blood up. I just hate to hear of children (and those who are incapable of caring for themselves) being mistreated in ways like this. Our Justice System is flawed and these kind of people tend to find the teeny-tiny cracks.

Disclaimer: I do not condone Vigilante Justice (unless it involves Bronson or Batman).

**MeanGreenStompa**

State imposed sterilisation. Now. They have lost the right to ever have a child again.

The pain this infant must have endured, this defies reason. That more than one 'human' being is involved furthers the despair this fills me with. A newborn child left to be eaten by rats, sorry but those involved lost all rights to personal freedom IMO.

**sebster**

Wee! Another game of revenge porn!

**Frazzled**

MeanGreenStompa wrote:State imposed sterilisation. Now. They have lost the right to ever have a child again.

The pain this infant must have endured, this defies reason. That more than one 'human' being is involved furthers the despair this fills me with. A newborn child left to be eaten by rats, sorry but those involved lost all rights to personal freedom IMO.

Not enough. Prison forever in a Louisiana penitentiary (or we'll swap some from Thailand)

**dogma**

Neferteila wrote:
And the 17yr old mother isn't facing prosecution, only the other three in the house?

I'm gonna go out on a limb and suggest that the mother wasn't treated all that much better than the children. Especially given that the kids weren't related to the men being charged.

**garret**

Hmm that bail seem a bit excessive to me.
But still what those guy did was 1000% wrong.

**MeanGreenStompa**

A six week old child has been left by adults to be gnawed on by rats over an extended time and you are seriously questioning the size of the bail amount?!?

W.T.F.........