"John" CROOMS - 9 yo - St Augustine FL

ST. AUGUSTINE, Fla. -- A 9-year-old boy missed a day of school in
May, then returned to school with bruises, prompting an investigation
that led to the arrest of his parents.


According to the St. Johns County Sheriff's Office, the victim came
home from school on May 23 and told his father he had been disciplined
at school.
Investigators believe the father then took the boy into his room and
beat him all over his body with a belt, saying, "I told you don't act
up; I told you this would happen if you act up," according to the arrest
report.
The boy's mother was just outside the family's mobile home, the
report said, while that was taking place, and said she heard the victim
"hollering and screaming."
She told investigators that she told the boy's father not to leave
marks, because, "They will call child abuse," according to the report.
She then said she saw bruises on the boy and said, "I cannot send him
to school this way at all," so she kept him home the following day.
The woman said she had to send him to school the day after that,
because the school would know the victim was not sick. She told the boy
to keep his arm covered to hide the bruises, the report said.
Once at school, though, personnel noticed the bruises and notified
both the sheriff's office and the Department of Children and Families.
The man and woman were both arrested.
Horace Nathaniel Crooms, 60, has been charged with cruelty to a child and was released on May 28 on $25,000 bond.
Susan Elizabeth Crooms, 49, was charged with child neglect and remains in jail with a $15,000 bond.
http://www.firstcoastnews.com/topstories/article/207032/483/Parents-Arrested-for-Child-Abuse-of-9-year-old-Boy