Police in Connecticut arrested a couple for forcing a child to kneel on tacks and hold a bottle rocket in his mouth until it exploded, among other alleged abuses, WFSB reported.
Nantucket Police initially responded to an anonymous report Oct. 1 that 31-year-old Kevin Grant and 29-year-old Kaitlin Elizabeth Baptiste had locked a child in their laundry room for 4 months and only allowed him out for school and to eat, according to a police search warrant.
Police arrested Grant and Baptiste Oct. 16.
Police also allege that Grant forced the child to eat “extremely spicy hot peppers” and if the child threw up from the spicy food he “was made to ingest the vomit.”
JUST IN: Tacks and hot sauce weren’t the only ‘punishments’ doled out by this couple, according to #Naugatuck police. https://t.co/rueBuqEX2i
— WFSB Channel 3 (@WFSBnews) October 21, 2020
The warrant also states that Grant forced the child to stand on a ladder holding one leg in the air until the child could no longer stand, AND put tacks under the ladder.
Grant was charged with risk of injury to a child, second-degree assault, intentional cruelty to persons, disorderly conduct and second-degree reckless endangerment. Baptiste was charged with risk of injury to a child, conspiracy to commit intentional cruelty to persons, conspiracy to commit disorderly conduct and second-degree reckless endangerment, according to the warrants.
Both Grant and Baptiste were released on bail, WFSB reported.
Meanwhile, authorities in Texas charged 44-year-old Daniel Schwarz and 34-year-old Ashley Schwarz with capital murder Oct. 16 after the couple forced an 8-year-old girl to jump on a trampoline in excessive heat and without food or water until she died of dehydration. (RELATED: Girl Forced To Jump On Trampoline As Punishment Dies Of Dehydration, Police Say)