Alabama parents jailed on child abuse-torture charges; children removed from home
By Lynne Keenum
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NORTHPORT, Alabama (WVTM) — A Northport, Alabama, couple is accused of abusing two of their children, including one who has cerebral palsy and uses a walker, according to a court document.
Ronald Earl Flack, 45, and Sarah Marie Flack, 37, each face two counts of child abuse-torture, according to Alacourt.
A Northport police investigator’s deposition says a school resource officer notified police on Oct. 28 about a possible child abuse case involving two sisters after one of the girls told a teacher they had been hit by their parents the previous day.
‘These are my trees’: Calera land dispute escalates as owner confronts Alabama Power crews The investigator reported that the girl said she and her sister were doing chores outside when their mother hit her sister with a belt. She said they were cleaning out a bird cage and a bucket with a hose and some water splashed on her sister, which made her giggle. She did it a couple more times, and that’s when their mother came out of the house with the belt and hit her sister on the bottom with the belt.
The girl told the investigator she didn’t think her mother should be spanking her sister for playing with a water hose. So she stepped in and took the belt. She said that her father then took it from her and slapped her in the face, according to the deposition.
The sister gave much of the same account as her sister, but due to her medical condition, she could not provide as many details as her sister.
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Sarah Flack told investigators she gave her four children chores to complete. She said she heard the girls outside playing and gave one girl three “whoopins” with a belt and slapped another after the girl took the belt away, according to the deposition. She also said she slapped the girl “not hard more to shut her up,” the investigator wrote.
She said she called for her husband and they all went inside. She said her daughter was talking back, so she slapped her in the face again, and the girl slapped her back.
An officer photographed injuries to the girls. The deposition says the investigator believed the injuries were more consistent with being struck with a closed fist than with being slapped.
The investigator viewed the inside of the home on the officer’s body camera and said that it was “extremely filthy and cluttered, not a residence in which a child with cerebral palsy who must use a walker would have an easy time getting around.”
The deposition says the Alabama Department of Human Resources removed all four children from the home during the investigation.
Both parents are being held in the Tuscaloosa County Jail on $30,000 bond each.
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