A Douglasville mother and her girlfriend have been arrested and face felony cruelty to children charges for allegedly putting her 6-year-old son in a dog cage, then covering him in syrup and cat litter.
Crystal Jean Hostetter, 24, the boy’s mother, and Sarah Elizabeth McClain, 29, are being held in the Douglas County jail with no bond, said Chris Womack, Douglasville’s chief of police.
“This thing is just sad,” Womack told the Atlanta Journal-Constitution on Friday. “As a father, my heart goes out to this kid.”
According to a report in the Douglas County Sentinel, the women said they were disciplining the boy, who they also made hold a brick over his head for 15 minutes.
According to the Sentinel, the boy reportedly has psychological issues and “doesn’t like to be sticky.” At some point during the ordeal, he reportedly screamed, “Please don’t kill me” from inside the cage.
Womack told The Atlanta Journal-Constitution he “can’t imagine what the boy has been through psychologically,” but since he was removed from the home and placed in foster care “he’s had a good couple of days.”
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