A Deltona couple was arrested and charged with felony child neglect, after a 6-year-old boy was found, cold and hungry at a neighbor’s house.
47-year-old John Haley and 41-year-old Stephanie Haley confessed to making the boy sleep on the porch as punishment for stealing and eating too much.
The boy turned up at a neighbor’s door shortly after 2:00 a.m., Sunday morning complaining about being cold and hungry. He told the neighbor that he was locked out of his house and had been forced to sleep on the patio as punishment.
Deputies say, the concerned neighbor gave the child a blanket and potato chips and called the Volusia County Sheriff’s Office for help.
The boy told deputies that he had been forced to sleep on the back porch for three days and that he had been fed rice for lunch and dinner every day, and when there was no rice, he’d been given lettuce. He said he’s often locked in the garage like a virtual prisoner and only let in the house a couple of times a day to use the bathroom.
Deputies then went to the boy’s house to ask the couple if they knew where the child was. At first, the Haleys claimed he was asleep in one of the bedrooms, but when deputies informed them he was at a neighbor’s cold and hungry, John Haley and his wife, Stephanie Haley, appeared shocked.
The couple later admitted that they made the child sleep on the porch as punishment for stealing and eating too much. Neither of them thought the punishment was in any way neglectful, deputies also say.
The couple was arrested and charged with felony child neglect. They were booked into the Volusia County Jail.
The Florida Department of Children and Families also responded to the scene and took custory of six other children at the house – three boys and three girls, ranging in ages from 1-15 years.
wow those people are sociopaths and psycopaths they have to be kept loked and never let near kids. This is defenetly on abuse to be left outside in the cold and left hungry malnurieshed those kids will be scarred for life.