Parents Face Charges After Allegedly Locking Autistic Sons in Closet
Parents Face Charges After Allegedly Locking Autistic Sons in Closet.
A couple from Richmond, Kentucky, got arrested after cops found signs that their two young boys with autism had been shut in a closet, where they scratched the walls until their hands got bloody trying to break out.
Casey Farthing, 41, and Stephanie Harmer, 36, are each hit with five counts of first-degree criminal abuse of a child under 12, two counts of first-degree unlawful imprisonment, and one count of first-degree criminal mischief, per court records.
The whole thing started when the landlord tipped off the Richmond Police Department about the family's old apartment being left in a mess, with bugs everywhere, human waste on the floors, and dirty diapers piled up.
When officers checked it out, they spotted locks on the outside of bedroom doors and a closet in one room that had deep claw marks and blood stains on the inside drywall. One of the kids, an 8-year-old boy, still had dried blood on his fingers and a busted fingernail from the ordeal.
The parents have three kids total: the two boys, ages 8 and 9, who are nonverbal and autistic, and a 5-year-old girl. The little girl allegedly told Kentucky Child Protective Services that mom and dad would lock her brothers in the closet "when they're bad." There were also signs of neglect, like the kids never having brushed their teeth and the girl still using diapers.
Farthing and Harmer claimed the closet lock was already there when they moved in, but the landlord shot that down, saying it wasn't. After interviews at the police station, the pair was booked into the Madison County Detention Center on $25,000 bond each.


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