Four people have been arrested for abusing a 10-year-old girl who police say was dragged along dirt roads by a rope attached to a car.
The girl’s mother Leslieann Raeder, 34, her boyfriend Gary Bubis Jr., 37, his sister Brandy, 18, and her boyfriend Shawn Whaely, 23, all face charges.
Police say they have been tormenting the little girl at her home in Albion, New York, since April.
They were arrested when she finally escaped to a neighbor’s house this week.
According to sheriff’s deputies, the girl was fed one meal a day that was covered in hot sauce. She had resorted to sneaking food in order to survive.
She was also made to run for the adults’ amusement, Oswego County Sheriff’s deputies said.
If she did not go fast enough, they would bump her with the car they were following her in or tie her to it with a rope and make her run faster, the police said.
Before making her run, the adults loaded her up with heavy backpacks – two strapped to each shoulder, one on her back and one on her front.
They allegedly kept the girl outside without access to water or a bathroom and beat her with a tightly wound newspaper if she did not fall in line with their twisted orders.
The abusive practices were passed off as punishments and disciplining techniques.
‘Her offenses amounted to sneaking food, trying to get food. This is awful. This whole thing is just awful,’ he told CNY Central.
The alleged abuse took place in the girl’s home in Albion, New York, and had been going on for months, according to police
The adults made the girl run along dirt roads like this one, following her with a car which they bumped her with if she did not go fast enough and then tying her to it to make sure she could not stop, police said
‘I still can’t wrap my brain around it,’ Oswego County Undersheriff Eugene Sullivan said, describing the case as the worst he’d seen in recent memory.
The girl’s mother is the only one facing child abuse charges. She has been charged with Endangering the Welfare of a Child.
All others were charged with assault in the second degree. Bubis is also accused of harming a three-year-old who police say he scalded with hot water.
The 10-year-old lived in the home with the three-year-old and a 12-year-old but police say she had been singled out.
All three children are now living with other relatives.