Severely abused, ‘almost feral’ children found after girl emails teacher for help



Ohio (AP) — An Ohio woman and her boyfriend have been sentenced to prison a year after one of her young daughters emailed a teacher for help and said she and her siblings were being chained to their beds, deprived of food and raped.

The 32-year-old mother pleaded guilty Wednesday in Scioto County to two counts of rape and was sentenced to 10 years to life in prison as part of a plea agreement.

Her 45-year-old boyfriend pleaded guilty to two counts of rape and one count of child endangering. He was sentenced to 25 years to life in prison.

Another person also is charged and is scheduled for trial next week.

The case in the Ohio River town of Wheelersburg attracted national attention when the children were rescued in February 2014.

The Columbus Dispatch reported at the time the kids involved included two girls ages 9 and 11 and one boy, age 8. A psychotherapist who treated them for months after, described them as “almost like feral children” due to the abuse.