Two Ohio grandparents are behind bars after being charged with participating in long-standing abuse against their daughter's step-children.
According to Fox 11, the boy was mistreated to such a severe degree that the muscles in his legs have atrophied due to starvation.
"If there’s a victim of this type of abuse, it’s tragic," said Delhi Township Police Lt. Joe Macaluso in an interview. "And when you have somebody that’s vulnerable, like a child or the elderly, it makes you sick."
He went on to say that the abuse was so acute that it made the case "hard to look into." The boy, his brother, and other relatives testified to investigators about the abuse.
Armin and Susan Rodriguez, 71 and 68, are both charged with child endangerment after a grand jury indictment. The boy's stepmother, Amy Rodriguez Dangel, faces 11 charges for child endangerment, specifically saying she "recklessly tortured or cruelly abused" the boy between January 2018 and April 2021. The boy's father faces one charge of violating his duty of care.
For years, the stepmother would force the youth to stand alone in a room, beat him, refuse him food and prevent him from being able to use the bathroom.
READ: Woman dies after being gored and launched in the air by bison at Yellowstone National Park
"He was not allowed to urinate unless he was given permission by mom prior or by grandmother," Macaluso said. "And he was not allowed to eat the same things everyone else would eat."
There were prior charges against the boy's father and stepmother, which resulted in subsequent charges against the grandparents for their involvement.
"When the authorities in that jurisdiction did a forensic interview with the child, he related the same type of treatment was occurring by his step-grandparents in my jurisdiction," Macaluso said. "He would go over to his step-grandparents’ house, their daughter would say that he’s in trouble, and he’s to be in timeout or he’s grounded."
"The torture perpetrated on this young child is unimaginable," Hamilton County Prosecutor Joe Deters said after the grandparents' indictment. "He is safe now and with family members who love him."
