Parents accused of locking 6-year-old in basement, beating him for months

An Ohio mother of four children and her former sex offender boyfriend have been accused of endangering, physically assaulting and locking her six-year-old son in a basement — and it doesn’t stop there.

“I love my children and I would never, ever, endanger them,” she said. “My children mean more to me than anything.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "I love my children and I would never, ever, endanger them," she said. "My children mean more to me than anything."

Those are the words of Angel Abram, 34, the mother of the child who was allegedly abused in her unfinished Newark basement over what the couple claims were behavioural problems.

Assistant Licking County Prosecutor Paula Sawyers says Abram’s boyfriend Joshua Bergeron, 38, has an active warrant in Washington state for “failure to register as a sexual offender” and a prior conviction for the rape of a child.

The Newark Division of Police and Licking County Prosecutor’s Office allege the couple locked Abram’s six-year-old boy in the basement for the majority of each day — only allowing him out to attend school.

When he returned home, he was allegedly forced to return to the basement to sit in a small six-by-eight foot room fashioned with concrete blocks. He ate down there and when it was time go to the bathroom, he was forced to use a child’s training potty and carry the human waste upstairs where he was expected to clean it.

Punishment would sometimes involve being hit “with a belt on his buttocks”, according to court records.

He slept on a deflated air matress with a torn blanket and pillow that covered a hard, thinly carpeted floor.

Both accused provided taped confessions Wednesday and acknowledged one child had been sleeping in the basement.

The other children in the home age from four months to 13 years. It was one of the children that first alerted authorities. All four have been removed from the home and placed in the care of children’s services.

Magistrate Matthew George set Abram’s bail at $100,000 (USD) and told her she can’t contact her children.

Bergeron, meanwhile, doesn’t agree with the charges.

“There’s a reason things were done,” he said. “Nobody wants to listen to that.”

Tweet This Click to share quote on Twitter: "There's a reason things were done," he said. "Nobody wants to listen to that."

His bail was set at $200,000 (USD) while authorities continue to investigate.