SEMINOLE COUNTY, FL. (THECOUNT) — Joseph and Jennifer Wolfthal, of Casselberry, Florida, have been identified as the couple arrested in the aggravated child abuse of their three adopted children.
Jennifer, 41, a children’s book author, and Joseph, 39, an engineer for Lockheed Martin, were both arrested on multiple counts of child abuse. One of the couple three adopted children, an 8-year-old girl, has been hospitalized for weeks due to the severe abuse.
|
Advertisement |
Jennifer, the author of “A Real Friend,” was taken into custody on charges of aggravated child abuse, child neglect with great bodily harm, domestic violence and false imprisonment.
According to FOX32chicago:
On New Year’s Day, Joseph brought a little girl to the hospital with injuries he said she’d suffered during a handful of accidents at home.
But authorities weren’t buying the story.
“Due to the height and weight of [the girl], it is not likely the swollen bruise on the back of her head and the laceration on her lip and broken tooth were caused by off balance falls,” the police report reads.
Wolfthal had also claimed the girl injured her mouth by brushing her teeth too hard and might have been suffering from vertigo. According to the police report, the girl was suffering from a long list of conditions including a staph infection, kidney and liver failure, malnourishment, open wounds and bruises, and more.
The girl reportedly told investigators she’d been isolated from her siblings and other adults for months or years.
While the girl was in the hospital, investigators visited the family home and said they found two other children with “symptoms of malnourishment, bruises and lack of care.”
Police said the children’s bedrooms had their door knobs installed backwards, with the locks on the outside.
Two of their three adopted children, a 9-year-old boy and 11-year-old girl, have been placed in foster care. The 8-year-old remains hospitalized, according to FOX News.
The adoptive parents are accused of locking their kids in their rooms for weeks at a time, and they allegedly dumped cold water on them in bed and withheld food.
Investigators said they found more than 1,100 written paragraphs reading: “My body stays flat on the bed at all times. I was never given permission to move or say anything. Now I get to write about this along with everything else. I am a fool.”
Jennifer Wolfthal is due back in court on March 9.
DEVELOPING::
Geo quick facts: Seminole County is a county located in the central portion of the U.S. state of Florida. As of the 2010 census, the population was 422,718. Its county seat and largest city is Sanford. Seminole County is part of the Orlando-Kissimmee-Sanford, Florida Metropolitan Statistical Area – Wikipedia.