Clermont County couple accused of treating 5 adopted sons 'worse than prisoners of war'

CLERMONT COUNTY, Ohio (WKRC) - A Clermont County couple is accused of torturing and abusing their adopted sons.

Mother Matthew Edmonson and father Charles Edmonson face child endangering charges.

The five children are siblings and were born with many medical issues. The Edmonsons started as foster parents and then adopted the boys.

Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve said the boys have been in and out of the hospital. The injuries included bruising, bleach burns, potential internal bleeding, and failure to thrive. Tekulve said the Edmonsons had explanations for the injuries.

A detective was investigating Charles for grooming and then engaging in sexual relations with a different adopted son, who was an adult at the time, when he found videos of the boys being "tortured, abused, and traumatized". Their treatment was said to be worse than that of prisoners of war.

“The videos of these undernourished and naked children huddled up in a locked room in the basement, on the stone-cold basement floor like a pile of puppies trying to stay together to keep warm, are nothing short of gut-wrenching. These two are unfit to be parents and I am grateful to those who have worked tirelessly to make sure they will not be," said Tekulve in a news release.