Citrus County Couple Pleads No Contest To Torturing Their Kids

[Judi Lynn]

Citrus County Couple Pleads No Contest To Torturing Their Kids
Couple Sentenced To 15 Years Each In Prison

POSTED: 11:32 am EDT September 14, 2005
UPDATED: 1:30 pm EDT September 14, 2005

INVERNESS, Fla. -- A couple pleaded no contest Wednesday to torturing and starving five of their seven adopted children, including yanking out their toenails with pliers, and were sentenced to 15 years each in prison.

John and Linda Dollar's plea to five counts of aggravated child abuse avoids a scheduled Oct. 31 trial and saves the children from an on-camera deposition documenting their misery.

The five abused children were so severely underfed that twin 14-year-old brothers weighed just 36 and 38 pounds each -- about 80 pounds below normal. Police compared their conditions to victims of Nazi concentration camps.

The Inverness couple also tortured the children with an electric cattle prod and bondage equipment. The two children who were not mistreated were favored by the Dollars and had no physical injuries.
(snip/...)

http://www.nbc6.net/news/4971998/detail.html

[democrank]

1. I just want to cry.

Those poor, dear children....

[Sanity Claws]

2. OMG

I just don't understand how this could happen?
If the kids were in school, the teachers would have noticed the starvation. Were the kids in school?
Usually, a report is done on the home before an adoption is allowed. Was this not done? I can't believe that all of this happened after the last adoption. People that sick usually do not get that sick over night.

[AllyCat]

3. Article says they were home-schooled so no one knew of their condition

They lived in a secluded area where neighbors wouldn't have seen them.

I don't believe in the death penalty, but would returning the abuse on these people be cruel and unusual? It doesn't look like either of them have missed many meals. I think a Weight Watcher plan would be a good start for both of them.

This is sickening. Their comment is that it "got out of hand". Ya think?

[SteppingRazor]

10. In cases like this, I'll buy the death penalty...

These people should be kneecapped, gutshot with a .38 round, and left to bleed. Fuck'em.
If you can't live by the most basic rules of society -- like, say, don't torture your kids -- then society has no obligation to you.

[Bridget Burke]

4. The children were all adopted before the couple arrived.

In an isolated area, with home schooling, there was nobody to notice. Until somebody finally did.

[LeighAnn]

7. Wonder what kind of homes they were taken from?

Who made the decision they would be better off with these psychopaths?

[Der Blaue Engel]

5. Oh, but it's all okay, everybody

The couple taught them "about the love of God."

:sarcasm:

Show me a child torturer and I'll show you a Christian extremist.

[NYC]

6. Why only 15 years?

They should never be let out. They are dangerous people.

[UpInArms]

8. Oh.My.God.

:cry:

there were background articles that gave more information than I should have read

:cry:

those poor babies

http://www.nbc6.net/news/4275086/detail.html

excerpt:

The children were placed in foster care after the abuse allegations surfaced on Jan. 21, when the Dollars' 16-year-old son -- weighing less than 60 pounds -- was taken to the hospital with a head wound and red marks on his neck.

Following the hospitalization, sheriff's Detective Lisa Wall spoke with each child to learn about their situation. Transcripts of those interviews were released Thursday.

The couple's 14-year-old son told Wall that he and his siblings would sleep in the closet of their parent's master bedroom as part of punishment for stealing food. He talked of them being punished though spankings with belts, paddles, switches and whips; getting kicked if they were caught stealing; and on at least one occasion getting struck with a cattle prod.

The 14-year-old also said all five of the children were choked until they either blacked out or couldn't talk. Along with being taped to chairs, chains had been wrapped around their stomachs and their father would hang them until they blacked out, the boy said.

He told Wall of having his toenails ripped off with pliers, saying it hurt "very bad." He said he would scream to make them stop.

Wall met with another boy who talked of similar punishment, saying it happened while the family lived in Tennessee. He told that he and his siblings would sometimes go three days without eating.

[mikelgb]

9. at least....

they were brought up by 1 mother and 1 father... who know what would have happened had it not been a "traditional" family.