Couple sentenced to 10 years for locking up four adopted children, beating them

by: Associated Press

JEFFERSON, Ohio — A husband and wife in Ohio have been sentenced to 10 years in prison on charges related to keeping their adopted children locked inside bedrooms for all but a few hours a day.

The Ashtabula Star-Beacon reports David, 60, and Rejeana Moss, 66, were sentenced Monday after pleading guilty in May to endangering children and felonious assault. An Ashtabula County prosecutor says the couple locked four of their adopted children in rooms for up to 22 hours every day  without food to eat or beds to sleep on and forced them to use metal containers for toilets.

Defense attorneys say the couple’s discipline was excessive, but the family’s home in Dorset Township wasn’t a “house of horrors.”

According to the Ashtabula Star-Beacon, Rejeana Moss told the court, “I have never wanted to hurt any child,” she continued. “I am sorry that these children have been hurt in any way by me. I hope and pray they find peace and full lives as I have tried and failed to do.”

The Associated Press contributed to this report.