A couple accused of waterboarding their 12-year-old daughter as a form of punishment are expected to turn themselves in after being charged with abuse.
Dion Stevens, 34, and Malisa Stevens, 41, were charged this week with aggravated assault and related charges stemming from the shocking allegations brought against them from the April incident said to have taken place inside their Aliquippa home.
Police said they were alerted of possible abuse by an anonymous tipster, and went to interview the family at the time.
The girl told police and Beaver County children and youth services officials that she had been dragged into the Aliquippa home’s basement in April, the Beaver County Times reported.
Dion Stevens, 34, and Malisa Stevens, 41, were charged this week with aggravated assault and related charges after being accused of waterboarding their daughter, 12
She told cops she was bound into a chair with packing tape.
Then, the girl said, a wet towel was placed over her face and her chair was tilted backward as a bucket of cold water was poured onto her, preventing her from breathing.
The police report said the couple ‘openly admitted’ that they tried to ‘waterboard’ the child ‘because they were punishing her’.
The couple told police they learned about waterboarding ‘through a movie’.
The shocking abuse allegedly took place in the basement of this Pennsylvania home
The man and woman are both charged with strangulation, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, child endangerment and reckless endangerment – but have been on the run since May.
They were charged last week and a local district attorney said Tuesday the pair is expected to turn themselves in.
‘Their attorney is in communication with the officer who has filed the charges and they’re scheduling a date and time to turn themselves in,’ David Lozier told the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette.
Court documents don’t list an attorney and a listed number for them couldn’t be found Saturday.