DETROIT (AP) — Prosecutors are bringing torture and child abuse charges against the father and stepmother of a 12-year-old Detroit boy who was found in his father’s basement in June after an 11-day disappearance.
The Wayne County prosecutor’s office on Friday announced charges against Charlie Bothuell IV and Monique Dillard-Bothuell.
Prosecutors say they systematically physically abused the child, forced him to live in the basement and didn’t permit him to socialize. In a statement, prosecutors say he was deprived of food and forced to engage in an “extreme and unreasonable exercise regime.”
The Associated Press left a message seeking comment with a lawyer who represented Charlie Bothuell IV in a custody case. Michigan earlier had sought to terminate the couple’s rights to two other children and the father’s rights to Charlie Bothuell V.
