Four adults in Florida are facing child abuse charges for allegedly using a stun gun to discipline children in their home, including for failing to complete pushups.
The Polk County Sheriff's Office said in a news release that 22-year-old Eduardo Vazquez and 22-year-old William Torres-Morales were arrested Thursday and face several charges including aggravated child abuse.
Their girlfriends, 33-year-old Elizabeth Tarvin and 32-year-old Veronica Sanchez, are charged with negligent child abuse and failure to report child abuse. Police allege the women knew about the stun gun assaults but did not stop or report them.
The report states that all four parents lived in the same home along with nine children.
It says after receiving a report about possible child abuse, investigators removed two children from the home and found they had bruises and burns consistent with stun-gun injuries. The injuries included multiple "two-prong" burns over their buttocks. The same injuries were then found on five more of the children.
Police allege the men initially lied about having a stun gun, and then lied again by stating that the children had found the stun gun and used it on each other.
The older children, who ranged in age between seven and 13 years old, told police in interviews that they had been “tased” with the stun gun several times. That included incidents in which the boys were forced to do push-ups and “tased” when one of them was not able to complete one.
After more questioning, the men admitted using a stun gun to discipline the seven oldest children.
Tarvin told police she did not try to stop the abuse or report it because she was scared of losing Eduardo Vazquez, the report says. The other woman, Sanchez, stated she never reported the incidents because she was afraid the children would be taken away from her.
Police allege the two men tried to hide the stun gun under a vacant residence across the street. The gun has not been found. Both men face additional charges of tampering with evidence.
With files from The Associated Press
