BERNELL McCALL - 14 yo (2009)/ Accused: LaRhonda M McCall & Steve Hamilton - OK City OK

9/28/2009
OKLAHOMA CITY — A woman was arrested after her 14-year-son told authorities he escaped from a home where he'd been kept for 4 1/2 years, spending most of his time locked in a bedroom closet, police said Monday.

A security guard at a National Guard facility in Oklahoma City called police on Friday after the teen showed up malnourished and with numerous scars and other signs of abuse, police Sgt. Gary Knight said.

"He was hungry. He was dirty. He had numerous scars on his body," Knight said. "It was very sad."

The boy was taken to a hospital to be examined and then turned over to the custody of the Department of Human Services, Knight said.

After police interviews, officers on Saturday arrested the boy's mother, 37-year-old LaRhonda Marie McCall, and a friend, 38-year-old Steve Vern Hamilton, on 20 complaints each of child abuse and child neglect. Formal charges have not been filed, and both were being held on $400,000 bond, according to jail records.

Jail officials were not sure if either had retained an attorney, and no one answered the phone at McCall's home.

The teen, wearing only a pair of oversized shorts held up by a belt, walked up to a security guard at the Guard facility around 5 p.m. Friday and asked where a police station was located so he could report being abused, according to a police report.
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He told police that scars on his stomach and torso were from where alcohol had been poured on him and set on fire. Other scars were from being tied up, hit with an extension cord and choked, the boy told police.

"He had scars covering most of his body," Knight said. "They were basically from head to foot."

Six other children lived in home
The teen told police he moved to the Oklahoma City area from New Jersey about 4 1/2 years ago after his mother was released from jail. Since arriving in Oklahoma, he said, he had never been to school and spent most of his time locked in a bedroom closet.

He told police the closet door was mostly blocked with a stepladder or a bed and that he managed to push the door open enough to escape and leave the house.

Knight said six other children living at the home were taken into DHS custody, but none showed signs of abuse.

A DHS spokeswoman said she could not discuss specific cases but generally an investigation would be conducted before any of the children are returned to the home or placed with other family members.

"There may be family members, but we do a diligent search, and we're very careful about placing kids in a safe environment," DHS spokeswoman Beth Scott said.

Friday, October 16, 2009

LaRhonda McCall Charged with Locking Son in Closet, Torturing Him for 4 Years

UPDATE: LaRhonda McCall's torture of her 14-year-old son was more horrific than originally reported.

He showed up scarred and starving at an Oklahoma City National Guard
post with a horrific tale: His mother had locked him in a closet for
four years, periodically beating and torturing him.

He showed up
wearing but over-sized pants with only a belt holding them up. There
were scars covering most of his body. He said his mother, LaRhonda Marie
McCall, and her boyfriend,
Steve Vern Hamilton, had poured alcohol on his stomach and set it on
fire, beat him with extension cords and choked him. The scars extended
nearly head to foot...

Steve Vern Hamilton also faces 20 counts of abuse and neglect

​The boy said his trouble began four years ago when the family moved
from New Jersey. He hadn't attended school since then, and spent most
of his time locked in a closet. But he managed to escape to the National
Guard post when he pushed open a closet door blocked by a bed.

What's odd about the case is that there were six other children in the house,
none of which appeared to be abused. It's unknown why McCall and
Hamilton specifically picked the 14-year-old for their unique brand of
sadism. But they'll now have plenty of time to reflect on their choices.
Both have been charged with 20 counts of child abuse and neglect.

UPDATE I: The boy was locked in a closet for hours and days at a time.

After LaRhonda McCall was evicted for unpaid rent in August from the
Hillcrest Apartments in Oklahoma City, building manager surveyed the
place. In the closet where the boy lived, she found a hole in the wall
filled with human waste, presumably where the child went to the
bathroom.

She told the Associated Press
that she didn't know seven kids were living in the place, and never
knew of the boy in the closet since the door was always closed whenever
she visited. "I just wish I would have known about it," she said. "I
would have done something."

UPDATE II: We now know that McCall and Hamilton beat and tortured the boy. We just don't know why.

Both adults have confessed to police that they locked the 14-year-old in a
closet and beat him over a four-year period. The child has told police
that he was beaten with a broomstick, electrical cord and belt. He was
also tied up with twine and locked in a closet for days on end without
food. When he showed up at the National Guard post, he said he hadn't
eaten in a week.

37-year-old LaRhonda McCall has confirmed much of the boy's story in an affidavit.
She admits to beating her son numerous times on his chest, back and
legs, in addition to choking him.


38-year-old Steve Hamilton, an Oklahoma City cab driver, also confessed to pummeling
the boy multiple times with a belt, wire cable and a tire jack.

The Oklahoman newspaper printed a portion of Hamilton's affidavit, where the boy is identified by the initials B.M.:

"Steve stated between June 2007 and August ... 2009 he has probably
left marks on the victim's back, arms or legs about 20 times ... Steve
witnessed LaRhonda also beat the victim in this way as well," the
police officer reported in court papers. "Steve stated he also knew that LaRhonda would punish B.M. by putting
him in a closet on several different occasions. Steve advised he saw
B.M. locked in the closet on at least 27 different occasions. Steve
advised LaRhonda would at least keep him in a locked closet sometimes
all day or more. Steve also was aware that LaRhonda would tie the
victim's hands up to punish him with a belt. ... "Steve never wanted to contact the police because he was afraid his best friend LaRhonda would get into trouble."

Unfortunately, we still don't know why they did it. Or why they seemingly picked on
just one child while not harming McCall's other six children.

UPDATE III: LaRhonda McCall was convicted of killing another child 13 years ago.

That's the latest word out of New York City, where she was convicted in 1996
of second-degree manslaughter in the death of her two-year-old.
Manslaughter usually implies death caused by negligence or error, rather
than any purposeful viciousness. And that seems to be how a court saw
it, since she was given an unknown amount of jail time and probation.

Early reports don't indicated what actually transpired.

UPDATE
IV: Though light sentences are the exception rather than the rule these
days, LaRhonda McCall was one of those exceptions in 1996, when she
received just six months for starving her two-year-old to death.

You know there's a judge out there just waiting to take a beating for this:
In 1995, McCall -- then going by the name LaRhonda Pressley -- showed
up at a Bronx hospital to report that her 2-year-old daughter Ciara was
having trouble breathing. The girl weighed just 14 pounds and could
neither walk or crawl. She died at Lincoln Hospital a week later from
malnourishment.

But a year later, McCall was only convicted of second-degree manslaughter,
and given six months in the slam and probation. How do you get just six
months for starving a toddler to death?

At the time, she would have either been pregnant or have
already given birth to the 14-year-old boy she now admits to torturing
in Oklahoma City.

We still don't have all the details in the
case, but just from what we have so far, it looks like heads are going
to roll in the Bronx, as well they should.

UPDATE V: 18-year-old Jaleasa
McCall knew her mom beat, whipped and choked her brother, but was too afraid to call police.

For those of us who've never been in this situation, it's impossible fathom
just standing by while this brand of sadism occurred. But who knows the
mind of a child raised in this environment.

In an interview with the Associated Press,
Jaleasa confirmed that her brother was tortured and locked in a closet
for days on end. He was pale and stunk from lack of bathing or a
bathroom to use. The boy apparently was targeted for abuse because
LaRhonda and Hamilton believed he was stealing from them.

Jaleasa says she would sneak him food and offer comfort, but she was too
afraid of her mom -- and what she'd do to the other five kids -- to ever
call police. "When my mom wasn't home or when she would go
to work, I would try to get him out so he could get washed up and give
him some food until it was time to get him put back in there," she says.
But the boy couldn't even chew his food because mom would check his
teeth when she got home to see if he'd eaten.

Jaleasa was only four years old when her mom was convicted of starving another
daughter to death. She and her brother went to live with relatives in
New Jersey, then joined their mother again when she moved to Oklahoma
City.

Equally surprising is that the boy never tried to escape
until now. It seems he had regular opportunities when his mom was at
work and Hamilton was off driving a cab. But he only decided to flee
after Jaleasa and he had a fight over cleaning the house.

Thankfully most of us will never know what it's like to live in such a perverse
environment. Nor how twisted a child's mind can become when that's all
he knows. But when you've been beaten with a tire jack, as Hamilton has
confessed to doing, one would think that even the most abused kid would
know it's time to flee.

UPDATE VI: Prosecutors say LaRhonda McCall's torture of her 14-year-old son was much worse than initially reported.

In an Oklahoma court yesterday, prosecutors said McCall and Hamilton beat the boy unmercifully with "fists, bike
chains, cables, extension cords, and/or boards," leaving permanent scars.


They also contend she found inventive means to make the boy
suffer. She once tied him naked to a ladder, then poured sugar water
over him to attract ants. In another incident, she's accused of pouring
alcohol on him and setting him aflame. Finally, she forced him to stand
barefoot in the snow for 45 minutes.

Abuser Mom Gets 2 Life Sentences - And Her Son Forgave Her


January 21, 2011

Thursday, a mother, LaRhonda Marie McCall, was sentenced to two consecutive life terms for the abuse of her son. The Oklahoma county District Judge, Lisa Davis, also sentenced her boyfriend, Steve Hamilton, to a life term, plus another 20 years for his complicity in the abuse. The torture occurred over a period of 4 years, from the time that the boy, Bernell McCall, came into the mothers custody until 2 years ago when the investigations and resultant charges were filed.

It Wasn't Just Abuse, It Was Torture

The prosecutor claimed that the boy was beaten with a bicycle chain, wire cables, leather belts, and even an car jack. The prosecutor also said that the son was regularly locked in a closet for days at a time, without being allowed to go to the bathroom, he was also choked, stabbed, starved, tied up, and set on fire. He was never allowed to go to school, and once he was doused with sugar water, and then tied up in their garage and left...for the bugs to bite him.

There are many more forms of torture that these worthless people used, but I am too disgusted by it to list them all here.

You Can't Keep A Good Man Down

Bernell wrote a letter to the Judge saying "You can hit, burn, stab, but you can't break me down because I'm a son of God and a brother of Jesus."

He went on in his letter to say that he forgave his mother for the atrocities, and claimed that he wanted to eventually grow up to start a therapy center for abused kids.

During the sentencing he sat in the jury box and cried at times, but left the courtroom when his mother spoke to the Judge.

An Apology From Mom

When she spoke to the Judge, McCall said that "I thank him for forgiving me, but I don't deserve it...He couldn't hate me any more than I already hate myself."

Her boyfriend, Hamilton, said that if he could take it all back he would. He then apologized for the abuse. But in this case more than an apology is demanded. The Judge was shown photos of the scars and evidence of the abuse before she handed down the sentence.

His Behavioral Issues

The young man, now 16, came into McCall's custody in 2006 after relatives had taken care of him for many years. The mother claims that there were severe behavioral issues with the boy, and after all conventional correction methods had failed, they resorted to more severe measures.

Locking him in the closet in order to "protect" his brothers and sisters as he had become "completely out of control."

During the sentencing she admitted the abuse, and then took the sentence for 33 counts of child abuse, and 3 counts of neglect. After the woman serves 38 years, she will be able to begin the second sentence, another 38 years before she can see the light of day.

Okla. woman sentenced to life for child abuse

Friday, January 21, 2011

OKLAHOMA CITY --


A woman who threw herself at the mercy of the court after being accused of abusing her son has been sentenced to two life terms for child abuse.

Oklahoma County District Judge Lisa Davis imposed the sentence Thursday on LaRhonda Marie McCall.

McCall's friend Steve V. Hamilton was sentenced to life plus 20 years.

Prosecutors said the boy was choked, starved, stabbed, tied up and set afire, and that he was once covered with a sugar-water solution and left outside so bugs would bite him. He never went to school.

McCall pleaded guilty last year but did not have a plea agreement, opting instead to let the judge set a penalty.

Hamilton entered a similar plea.

The victim sat in the jury box during Thursday's sentencing hearing, weeping at times.

I hope this boy gets extensive therapy. After what he lived through, he will need it in order to become a productive member of society.

He has a kind, forgiving heart. However, his mind is damaged.

JMO.