Minister kept his 8 children locked in toilet without food or water because they said in the church they had “bad parents” and beat them with a wooden board and a belt from the waist down before the children were able to contact child welfare workers; arrested
According to police reports, a couple was arrested earlier this month on allegations of child abuse and neglect and is now facing multiple criminal charges after they reportedly mistreated their eight children, bringing to light a deeply troubling case of domestic abuse. The minister, later identified as Keith, is facing three counts of felony child abuse and one count of child neglect, while his wife, later identified as Candy, faces charges of enabling three counts of child abuse and one count of child neglect, stemming from reports of physical abuse inflicted upon their children, whose ages range from 2 to 17 years.
The case came to light when child welfare workers alerted police about multiple instances of the children being physically abused by the couple. The allegations were particularly concerning for a 14-year-old girl, identified as “T.S.”, and a 14-year-old boy, referred to as “J.C.H.” in the affidavit. Evidence of abuse included photographs of T.S. with severe bruising and a video of J.C.H. claiming his father had physically assaulted him. When officers visited the priest’s home on January 16, they encountered T.S., who revealed shocking details of the abuse. She showed the officers bruises covering her arms and legs, explaining that Keith had beaten her with a wooden board.
Further insight into the abuse was provided during a forensic interview where T.S. described being hit on her arms and legs with both a belt and the wooden board. Another 16-year-old girl in the household recounted similar experiences, including being locked in the bathroom for three days without food or water because someone at their church said that she said they were bad parents. T.S. also reported being struck about 40 times on one occasion because Candy accused her of taking her makeup. In post-Miranda interviews, Candy admitted that if the children claimed the abuse occurred, she believed them, yet she denied being present during these incidents. She suggested that her husband might have been responsible for the abuse in her absence.
Keith’s response was initially a denial of hitting the children in areas other than their buttocks. However, he later said that it was possible that “he hits the kids so much that he doesn’t remember each incident.” He even suggested the possibility of ‘blacking out’ during the beatings, unaware of the force or number of hits. Despite these admissions, Keith denied locking any child in the bathroom and questioned the children’s motivation for lying about such allegations. Following these revelations, the couple were booked into jail, each held on a $100,000 bond.
