Date: 2014-09-13
By Mary Beth Lane
LANCASTER, Ohio — A Fairfield County couple has been charged with child abuse, accused of forcing their 15-year-old daughter to live in an outbuilding without food, water or a toilet.
Douglas Lyle Sherman, 64, and Kim Eng Sherman, 60, were arrested on Thursday night at their home at 10200 Lithopolis Rd. in Bloom Township. They are being held in the Fairfield County jail, Sheriff Dave Phalen said yesterday.
Deputies found a disturbing arrangement when they went to the home, which has a small outbuilding attached in the rear.
Their daughter was made to live in the outbuilding, and she was refused entry to the family home for food and other necessities, Phalen said.
The girl spent nights in the outbuilding with no lights, water or toilet. She used a garden hose and soap placed outside the building to shower, and used the woods to relieve herself, Phalen said.
Two cinder blocks supporting a sheet of plywood covered by cardboard served as a makeshift bed in the outbuilding, he said.
“It was very disturbing, to say the least,” Phalen said.