A stepfather in Florida has been convicted of child abuse after a restaurant employee noticed signs and used a note to ask a boy if he needed help, the Orange County Attorney’s Office announced.
The jury found Timothy Lee Wilson, 36, guilty of two counts of false imprisonment of a child under the age of 13, three counts of aggravated child abuse with a weapon, four counts of aggravated child abuse and one count of child neglect, the statement said. from the state attorney’s office.
An investigation revealed that the boy was kept away from his family in a hotel room used for storage, was regularly deprived of food and drink, and was subjected to military-style drills and other abuse, according to the statement. Officers recovered several items used as weapons against the child, the statement added.
The 11-year-old boy and his family were at a restaurant in Orlando on January 1, 2021, when employee Flaviane Carvalho noticed that he was sitting isolated from his parents and brother, was being deprived of food and drink and was injured. and scratchy, CNN previously reported.
Carvalho stood behind the boy’s parents and held up a note asking if he was okay. When the child nodded no, she wrote a second note that asked, “Do you need help,” she explained at a press conference.
After the boy nodded yes, Carvalho called his boss and then called 911.
The police then questioned the child. Wilson was arrested at the restaurant, and the boy’s mother, Kristen Swann, was arrested days later, Orlando investigators said.
Swann is facing multiple criminal abuse charges, including neglect of a child, aggravated abuse and failure to report child abuse, Orange County Clerk’s Office records show. She did not plead guilty. CNN is contacting Swann’s attorney for comment.
Wilson will be sentenced on August 19, 2022. CNN contacted his attorney for comment on the verdict.
What the Police Found After Parents’ Arrest
When Swann and Wilson were arrested, another 4-year-old was removed from the home and found not to have been abused, according to Orlando Police Detective Erin Lawler at the time of the arrests. Lawler said the 11-year-old is Swann’s son and the 4-year-old is to Swann and Wilson.
After Carvalho called 911, the boy was taken to a hospital where he was found to be 20 pounds underweight for his age, according to Lawler, who added that the boy also had bruising in various stages of healing throughout his life. body.
Investigators later found that the boy had been “tortured” and “maliciously punished,” the attorney’s office said in a statement. Prosecutors found the boy was hung upside down from a door by his neck and feet and, on one occasion, handcuffed to a doll stroller.
“What this child went through was torture,” Lawler said. “I am a mother and to see what that 11-year-old girl had to go through… It shocks her soul.”
“If Mrs. Carvalho hadn’t said something when she saw it, that little boy probably wouldn’t be with us much longer,” she added.
“I was used as a tool of God to help him,” Carvalho told CNN affiliate WESH. “We need to pay attention to those in need and move forward to do something to change the situation.”
Source: CNN Brasil
