Foster mother charged with child abuse

The Florida Times-Union

TAMPA -- A foster mother charged with 34 counts of child abuse and neglect punched children in her care, held them under hot water, deprived them of food, threatened them with a gun and beat them with a paddle, said an arrest report.

Marjorie Moss, 53, was arrested Wednesday on felony charges of physically and mentally abusing and maliciously punishing seven children she and her husband had cared for as foster parents, then adopted.

Her husband, Charles Moss, 73, was charged with six counts of felony child neglect. He reportedly was aware of what was going on but did nothing.

Six of the children, ranging in age from 7 to 16, were placed back into state custody, authorities said. The other, a 17-year-old girl, went to live with her biological mother.

Gay Courter, a child welfare advocate in Citrus County who adopted a girl who once had lived in the Moss home, said children talked of having hot sauce put on their tongues, being forced to squat under a table for long periods, and being made to wear "bed wetter" signs.

Tom Jones, state child care spokesman, said the state had investigated seven complaints of abuse at the Moss home since 1996. But allegations could not be proved, he said, because children recanted abuse claims they previously had made.