A few months back I followed the story of Mike Martin, AKA DaddyOFive, a YouTuber who made a very comfortable living by monetizing his abuse of his own children. He posted dozens of videos of himself tormenting his kids, or coercing them into tormenting each other, and it earned him the closest thing to fame and fortune that’s available on YouTube. Martin had a huge following among children and other psychopaths — over 750,000 subscribers — but once the adults found out what he was doing, it was all over. He lost custody of two of his kids, and his income stream was cut off.
Here’s a recap of the whole fiasco, courtesy of YouTuber Philip DeFranco:
Now the other shoe has dropped. Brittany Britto, Baltimore Sun:
The couple behind the controversial “DaddyOFive” YouTube channel were sentenced to five years of probation on charges of child neglect in Frederick County Circuit Court on Monday.
Michael and Heather Martin of Ijamsville entered Alford pleas to two counts of child neglect each — charges that stem from “prank” videos that caused a viral outcry from viewers who thought they amounted to child abuse. Under their Alford pleas, the Martins maintain their innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors have enough evidence to win a conviction…
In more than 300 now-deleted videos, the Martins were seen destroying an Xbox, and berating and cursing at two of their five children. In other videos, Michael Martin is seen pushing his son Cody Martin into a bookcase, giving him a bloody nose and ordering one of his stepsons to slap his daughter, Emma Martin, in what he deemed a game.
I don’t get how “child neglect” is a sufficient charge, but it’s better than nothing. These scumbags should never be allowed near children again. Beyond the physical abuse, I don’t understand how anybody can humiliate little kids for YouTube clicks. It’s an abuse of trust. It’s astonishingly cruel. It’s psychological torture.
DaddyOFive is just lucky he’s not DaddyInJail. They don’t take kindly to child abusers in the joint.