A Baker County father and grandmother were arrested on child abuse charges after a child was allegedly tied up to be kept from eating at night.
According to a Facebook post from the Baker County Sheriff's Office, a School Resource Deputy was alerted to a child that may be experiencing abuse at home.
The deputy began to investigate and found the child had bruising behind his ear and over his eye, as well as a small cut on his forehead. At that point, DCF was informed and began to assist in the investigation.
Both the deputy and DCF interviewed the child and it was determined they were subject to severe abuse by his father, Kenneth Haley, 38, and grandmother, Carmen Yeomans, 59, including being tied up at night in order to prevent him from eating. The child had several injuries to his body and some of them were very serious and required medical attention.
Haley was on probation for a child neglect case out of Jackson County, Florida. He was violating his probation and authorities were able to make contact with him.
Both Haley and Yeomans were taken into custody and a total of four children ages 3-7 were removed from the home by DCF.
The Baker County Sheriff's Office said in a written statement:
Sheriff Rhoden would like to commend all of the agencies who worked to remove this child and 3 siblings from this abusive environment. It started with an observant school official who took the appropriate steps to bring this abuse to the attention of law enforcement. If anyone knows or suspects that a child is being abused or neglected, please notify the Sheriff’s Office at 904-259-2861 or 1-800-96-ABUSE.
