"John Doe" - 16 yo/ Accused: Ronald White - Spring Hill/ Tampa Bay FL

SPRING HILL - Deputies said Ronald White punched his adopted
16-year-old son in the eye, forced him to drink a gallon of water and
caged him inside a room without access to a toilet.
An investigation began after paramedics came to White's house July 14
and found the unconscious boy on the bathroom floor, according to the
Hernando County Sheriff's Office.
He was taken to Spring Hill Regional Hospital, where he was listed in
critical condition "due to all his organs shutting down and his body
being in septic shock," wrote Detective George Loydgren in an arrest affidavit.
Doctors said the teen had a black left eye and several bruises across
his arms, legs and chest. He was airlifted to All Children's Hospital in St. Petersburg.



White, 36, who lives at 1315 Medford Ave., was arrested at 5:30 p.m.
Monday at the sheriff's office. He was charged with aggravated child
abuse causing great bodily harm and aggravated child abuse by caging.
His bail was set at $20,000.
Eight days after he was taken to the hospital, Loydgren spoke with
the boy, who told him White had physically abused him, according to the sheriff's office.
Deputies would not release the victim's condition.
Some of the forms of punishment White administered included punching
the teen in the face and causing a black eye, striking him several times
in the head and body while he was on the floor and using a
slide-bolt-style lock to confine him inside a room, deputies said.
Loydgren stated White locked the victim in his room every night and wouldn't allow him to use the bathroom.
The day before the boy went to the hospital, White punished him by making him drink a gallon of water, Loydgren wrote.
The teen told Loydgren one of White's favorite methods of punishment
was making him drink large quantities of water at once, according to the affidavit.
White's wife was interviewed and corroborated her son's allegations,
deputies said. Jail records revealed she has not been charged.
During his interview, the suspect admitted to the abuse, Loydgren wrote in the affidavit.
White's arraignment is scheduled for Aug. 18.
The teen has been removed from the house, along with his two sisters,
who are 15 and 17 years old, respectively, according to the sheriff's office.
Cpl. Wendy McGinnis, a sheriff's spokeswoman, said the investigation remains open.

http://www2.hernandotoday.com/content/2011/jul/26/261138/spring-hill-man-accused-of-caging-beating-adopted-/

SPRING HILL, Fla. - A week and a half after Spring Hill resident
Ronald White was arrested for nearly killing his adoptive, mentally
disabled son, his wife was arrested for the same charges Wednesday, the
Hernando Sheriff’s Office said.
Tammy White, 42, has been charged with two counts of aggravated child abuse.
Her husband was arrested July 25 and charged with Aggravated Child Abuse with Great Bodily Harm and Caging a child.
Ronald
allegedly beat his adopted son, forced him to drink a gallon of water
and locked him in his bedroom, denying him access to a bathroom,
Hernando County deputies say. Details have not yet been provided
regarding Tammy's part in the abuse.
"We don't know at this point
how long the child was locked into the room," said Hernando County
Sheriff's Corporal Wendy McGinnis. "Whether it was several hours a day,
several days, weeks, we don't know at this point." The investigation is
continuing, McGinnis said.
Ronald White was charged with Aggravated
Child Abuse with Great Bodily Harm and Caging a child. White was booked
into the Hernando County Jail on $20,000 bond.
According to the
arrest affidavit, White hit the 16-year-old boy "in the face causing a
black eye... As a result of the blow (the boy) fell to the ground where
... White struck him several times about the head and body," causing
additional injuries. Deputies say White then locked the boy in his
bedroom with a dead bolt and refused to let him leave.
On July 13,
deputies say White forced the teen to drink a gallon of water, which was
a common punishment with all three of his adopted children. He then
refused to let the children use the bathroom.
The teen told deputies he would frequently soil his pants overnight, because he was not allowed to use the toilet.
Deputies say the alleged abuse was discovered when the victim collapsed at home and was rushed to the hospital.
Doctors
listed the boy in critical condition, "due to all his organs shutting
down and his body being in septic shock," according to the arrest
affidavit.
"How could you do that? That's sick," said neighbor
Marilyn Scaccio. "You wouldn't treat an animal like that, much less a
child."

http://www.abcactionnews.com/dpp/news/region_citrus_hernando/spring_hill/mom-charged-with-child-abuse-after-husband-was-charged-for-same-crime--

I'm glad to learn they finally arrested the POS mother also.

Did you see how much money they were getting from the state? They should add additional charges for that.

Cops: Ronald & Tammy White locked blind, mentally handicapped adopted son in cage

BY Corky Siemaszko
DAILY NEWS STAFF WRITER

Thursday, August 4th 2011, 1:07 PM

Ronald White, 36, and his wife, Tammy, 42, are accused of putting their
adopted son in a cage, forcing him to drink water and denying him use
of a toilet.

A Florida couple was accused Thursday of forcing their blind adopted son to guzzle a gallon of water - and then locking him in a bedroom without access to a toilet.

The 16-year-old boy, who is also mentally handicapped and was beaten black and blue, nearly died of septic shock as a result of the alleged water torture, police said.

Investigators removed him and the two adopted teenage girls who were also living in the hellish household when they arrested Ronald and Tammy White.

The couple is charged with multiple counts of aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm and caging a child.

"We don't know at this point how long the child was locked into the room," Hernando County Sheriff's Corporal Wendy McGinnis said. "Whether it was several hours a day, several days, weeks, we don't know at this point."

Police believe Ronald White, 36, inflicted beatings on the boy and regularly forced all three children to drink gallons of water as punishment.

They are less clear about the role his 42-year-old wife played in the alleged abuse of the children, all of whom were adopted within the last three years.

The nightmarish conditions were discovered on July 14 when paramedics were called to the couple's Spring Hill home and found the boy - sporting a black eye and bruises across his arms, legs and chest - passed out on a bathroom floor.

They raced the stricken teen to a local hospital and later had him airlifted to All Children's in St. Petersburg after his organs started shutting down.

He remains in critical condition.

The Whites hail from tiny Ambrose, Ga., where they racked up nearly $150,000 in debts and twice declared bankruptcy, records show. The most recent filing was in 2008.

In Georgia, people who adopt get up to $486.67 per month for 13- to 18-year-old children, the St. Petersburg Times reported.

While it's not clear whether the Whites adopted to get out of debt - or whether they continued to receive payments after moving to Florida - their payments would have amounted to $17,520.12 a year, the paper calculated.

csiemaszko@nydailynews.com

Payments do continue when one moves to another state.