Those who adopt children are often viewed as having “saved” them from a bad situation. Unfortunately, (like any parents) not everyone has their kids’ best interests at heart. Recently, an Ohio couple was sentenced after torturing their five adopted children in “dungeon” conditions in their home for years.
In late December 2024, Matthew Edmonson, 50, and Charles Edmonson, 64, pleaded guilty to multiple counts of child endangering. They did so as part of a plea deal that dropped many other charges against them. As a result, their fates have been determined.
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On December 27, the Ohio couple was sentenced for torturing their adopted children.
Matthew Edmonson pleaded guilty to five counts of child endangering as part of a plea deal on December 27, The Cincinnati Enquirer reported. Meanwhile, her husband pleaded guilty to kidnapping, felonious assault, and three counts of child endangering in a plea deal. The abuse took place over five years, the newspaper reported.
Matthew Edmonson received a minimum of 13 years in prison while Charles Edmonson received a minimum of 15 years. Had they not taken the plea deals, their possible prison sentences added up to more than 200 years.
In addition, Bailey Edmonson, their biological son, “was also sentenced on Friday to two years of probation after pleading guilty to three misdemeanor counts of child endangering,” according to the Enquirer.
Videos allegedly showed them inflicting 'severe mental and physical abuse.'
The abuse involved the Edmonsons’ five adopted boys, all biological brothers (and four of whom have special needs). In February, the brothers were removed from the home, WCPO reported.
In June, each was indicted on five counts of child endangerment. More followed in July and August. The additional indictments came after videos showed “severe mental and physical abuse,” the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office noted, per People.
The prosecuting attorney compared the abuse of the children to that of wartime prisoners.
Clermont County prosecuting attorney Mark J. Tekulve described the treatment of the Edmonsons’ five sons as “worse than prisoners of war,” WCPO reported.
In a June statement, Tekulve said: “The videos of these undernourished and naked children huddled up in a locked room in the basement, on the stone-cold basement floor like a pile of puppies trying to stay together to keep warm, are nothing short of gut-wrenching.”
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The couple reportedly withheld food and water and tied the children to a bed.
Allegedly, the Edmondsons locked them in a basement with a metal bed with no mattress or blanket. They also forced them to sleep naked on the floor, the Enquirer reported. They also allegedly withheld food and water; footage showed one of the boys looking for something to eat from the trash. One of the boys told school officials that his parents rubbed feces and urine in his eye as a punishment.
The brothers were repeatedly treated for injuries from the abuse.
According to prosecutors, the children had been repeatedly treated at a hospital for bleach burns, bruising, internal bleeding, and other ailments, WLWT reported.
“These two are unfit to be parents, and I am grateful to those who have worked tirelessly to make sure they will not be,” Tekulve said in June, per People. “Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time and will not be the last time that my office has had to seek indictment for people like this who pretend to be ‘parents.’”
