An Ohio couple is facing severe charges after being accused of horrifically abusing their five adopted sons.
Matthew Robert Edmonson and Charles Robert Edmonson stand accused of subjecting the boys, who are all biological siblings, to torture and cruel punishment. Prosecutors allege the abuse went on for an extended period.
The boys, initially fostered by the Edmonsons, were later adopted.
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According to investigators, the couple subjected the children to physical abuse, including being locked in a cramped, unfurnished space as punishment.
“Detective Ross recovered numerous videos of the defendants treating these beloved special needs children worse than prisoners of war in their own home,” Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve said in a media release.
Reports indicate the boys suffered injuries like bleach burns and potential internal bleeding.
The extent of the abuse reportedly came to light after several hospital visits for the boys’ injuries. Authorities say the Edmonsons attempted to explain away the injuries, but inconsistencies in their stories led to further investigation.
“These five little boys were constantly in the house naked and were held in what I would consider a dungeon,” prosecutors described Wednesday to the court, according to FOX19. “It had a metal bunk bed, sometimes there were no mattresses, they didn’t have blankets. They would sit in their feces because they weren’t allowed to go to the bathroom.”
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“The most disturbing video of all was the one of all five boys,” prosecutors said. “All these naked tiny little malnourished boys because they would lose food all the time, huddled up like puppies on this cold floor of this basement.”
Charles Edmonson was already serving a sentence for a prior sex crime against one of the children, and why the state would not have removed the children is up for debate.
According to Fox19, Matthew Robert Edmonson, 49, was given a $500,000 bond and a no-contact order from the judge on Wednesday.
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