"John Doe" - 5 yo/ Accused: Aaron and Alexza Potts - Homosassa (Gulf Coast) FL

A Citrus County couple faces felony charges in connection with the alleged torture of a 5-year-old boy.

Aaron Lee Potts, 28, and Alexza Marisol Potts, 26, were arrested
Sunday and taken to the Citrus County Jail. The man is charged with
aggravated child abuse, and the woman faces charges of failing to
protect the child and failure to seek medical attention.

It wasn't clear from the arrest report whether Aaron Potts is the
boy's father, but he was left to care for the boy and three other
children while Alexza Potts was at work.

According to the Citrus County sheriff's arrest report, Aaron Potts
placed the child in a tub and sprayed him in the genital area with
excessively hot water, which caused first-, second- and third-degree
burns. The report says Potts then tortured the boy by putting rubbing
alcohol and peroxide on the burns.

The child, who was taken to a hospital by a family friend, also had bruises on his lower back, the deputies said.

According to deputies, a family friend said Alexza Potts had just
started a job that required her to work Saturday and Sunday, leaving
Aaron Potts as the caretaker for the children, who are in school or
daycare during the week.

The friend said Aaron Potts, who is unemployed, called her about noon
Saturday and said he was stressed over watching the children and
couldn't handle it. The friend said Potts asked her to come the
residence and help him and she declined.

When the friend reached Potts by phone several hours later, he was crying and saying he going to jail, the friend told deputies.


The friend said she went to the residence the next day, saw the boy's
injuries, and took him to the hospital. She said she called Alexza
Potts at work and told her she was taking the boy to a hospital, but
Alexza Potts refused to leave work to check on the child.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2012/3/7/citrus_boy_s_groin_a/

OMG what is wrong with people. Maybe info is missing but I don't understand why the friend didn't rush over there when the child torturer said he couldn't handle watching the kids and especially when he said he was going to go to jail. That should have been a clue that something bad had happened. And the children should be taken away from the mother since she couldn't be bothered to leave work when her son was seriously injured. Unbelievable!

This one is awful and not too far north of me.

Not much can be said except that I took a tour of mom's Facebook account. This seems a bit like a forgotten child. I wonder if she started marginalizing him after she remarried. She's constantly referring to her daughters. She seems to dote on them. All of the pictures are of her daughters. I found one picture of what is probably this little man and it's on an old account. It's under the name Alexza Berrios. I think two things might be going on here--the little boy is very dark in complexion. Perhaps the new daddy doesn't like that fact--he's of a light complexion as are the other little girls. Also, the almost ubiquitous stepfather "let's maim the young of another male" animalistic mindset.

I can't believe "mommy" couldn't be bothered to leave work. A friend had to take him. That's going to look bad to a jury. I'd be curious to see what the previous abuse allegations were--they're referenced in a Bay News 9 article and CPS is investigating its own. Second verse, same as the first.

this is one sick "mother" and an animal!!! they dont deserve ANY children!

Here's another article with a bit more info. Photos of these sickos at this link:

http://www.chronicleonline.com/content/local-man-woman-accused-child-abuse

Local man, woman accused of child abuse

Officials say boy suffered severe burns from scalding water
By Abdon Sidibe
Thursday, March 8, 2012 at 12:00 am (Updated: March 8, 12:00 am)

HOMOSASSA — A Homosassa man and woman are face aggravated child abuse with great bodily harm charges after a young boy was found with severe burns to his groin area.

Aaron Lee Potts, 28, and Alexza Marisol Potts, 26, were arrested Monday.

According to an arrest report, Aaron was watching four children, including the boy, while Alexza Potts was at work.

The report stated a witness said she got a call from Aaron Potts last Saturday saying he was stressed out and he could not handle watching children and wanted her to help. The witness said she got a text message the following day from Alexza Potts from work indicating she checked on the children. When she arrived, she was told by Aaron Potts that the rash on the boy’s groin area had become worse. When she saw the so-called rash, she immediately said she was going to take the child to the hospital.

The boy reportedly told investigators Aaron Potts had made him stand in the bathtub while he sprayed scalding-hot shower water on his groin area for about a minute, causing first-, second- and third-degree burns. Aaron Potts reportedly then used peroxide and alcohol to treat the injuries, further aggravating the pain. When investigators talked to them, both had stories alleging the injury was a bug bite that turned ugly. At first, Alexza Potts denied noticing anything unusual with the boy when she got home from work Saturday. She later changed her story and said she also thought it was a bug bite and tried to treat it with cortisone and had her pediatrician call in a prescription for a bug bite. The two were arrested and charged. No bond was allowed.

Aaron Potts has other charges pending from a separate incident Saturday stemming from a traffic stop. Those charges are: displaying a forged license, possession of drug paraphernalia and tampering with evidence.

Alexza or someone using her account sent a "Happy birthday, Cuzzo!" message to her cousin just 10 hours ago. Is she out already? I thought bond was denied. I can't find inmate locator databases for Citrus County.

A 5-year-old boy recovering from severe burns to his groin
area is now staying with his grandmother, who says he is doing better
than doctors expected.

Alexza Potts, 26, and 28-year-old Aaron Potts, of Citrus County, were both arrested in connection with the abuse.

Investigators say Aaron put the boy in a tub and sprayed his genitals
with hot water, then tortured the child by putting rubbing alcohol on
the burns.

Aaron is charged with aggravated child abuse, and Alexza faces charges
of failing to protect the child and failure to seek medical attention.


Both were in court Tuesday. They plead not guilty.

The boy is now staying with his grandmother, who says he is doing better
than expected, though he still has a way to go. She says he’s excited
to go back to school soon.
http://www.baynews9.com/content/news/baynews9/news/article.html/content/news/articles/bn9/2012/3/21/abused_5_year_old_bo/