GUILTY FL - John & Linda Dollar for torture of 5 adopted kids, Beverly Hills, 2005

Sorry if this has been posted elsewhere. This is just unfathomable, and if these poor kids aren't their biological, adopted, or foster children, whose children are they? These two deserve worse than death.



Couple accused of torturing children

Couple accused of torturing children
Allegedly starved, beaten with hammers



TAMPA, Florida (AP) -- A couple is being sought on child abuse charges for allegedly torturing seven children who lived with them -- pulling out their toenails with pliers, delivering electric shocks and striking them with a hammer, authorities said Thursday.

At least three children were severely malnourished, including twin 14-year-old brothers who weighed just 36 and 38 pounds each -- about 80 pounds below the normal weights for their age, police said.

The seven children were removed from the home last month after one of them called an ambulance for a 16-year-old boy who weighed less than 60 pounds and had suspicious injuries on his head and neck. The doctors alerted authorities.

John Dollar, 58, and wife Linda, 51, who live about 70 miles north of Tampa, failed to appear at a scheduled Department of Children & Families hearing Monday. They are wanted on felony charges of aggravated child abuse.

The sheriff's office declined to describe the nature of the relationship between the Dollars and the children, citing privacy concerns. DCF spokesman Bill Daiuto said the Dollars were not the children's biological or foster parents, but he declined to comment on the specifics of the case.

The Dollars and the children moved from Tennessee to Florida in August.

Some of the children showed signs of physical injury, including missing toenails, which appeared to support their claims, Citrus County sheriff's spokeswoman Gail Tierney said. Others said they were also tortured by electric shocks and were hit with a hammer, she said.

Five of the seven children told deputies they were forced to sleep in a locked walk-in closet because the Dollars accused them of stealing food and misbehaving, the sheriff's office said.

Tierney said the children did not attend school and no other adults had regular contact with them, preventing authorities from intervening sooner. Tierney said even two children who appeared not to have been harmed by the couple -- another 14-year-old boy and a 16-year-old girl -- were not able to alert authorities sooner.

"My impression was that they were basically prisoners in this home," Tierney said.



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Copyright 2005 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

This is just horrendous, I can't imagine how someone can treat another human being this way, let alone children. I hate to hear these kinds of things, but glad it's brought to my attention so I can pray for these kids.

I hope these people burn in h*ll............ this is just sick


Allegedly pulled out kids' toenails, beat them with hammers

(CNN) -- A manhunt has been launched in Florida for a couple accused of torturing five of seven children in their home, including pulling out their toenails with pliers and keeping them so malnourished that they "looked like pictures from Auschwitz," authorities said Thursday.

Citrus County Sheriff's spokeswoman Gail Tierney said an arrest warrant was issued for John Dollar, 58, and his wife, Linda, 51 -- each of whom face one count of "aggravated child abuse/torture" for all five children.

The Dollars were the legal guardians of all seven children, although they were not their biological parents, Tierney said. She said the other two children were said to be "favorites" of the Dollars, and were spared their alleged abuse.

The case came to authorities' attention two weeks ago, when a 16-year-old was transported from the family home in Beverly Hills, Florida, to a local hospital. The boy was bleeding from a laceration on his head and there were red marks on his neck. He weighed just 59 pounds, Tierney said.

"That was just the start of the alarming parts of this case," she told CNN in a telephone interview.

Authorities went to the home and interviewed the rest of the children, including two twin 14-year-old boys who were so malnourished they weighed a mere 36 and 38 pounds -- the weight of a typical 4-year-old.

"To look at the photos I saw, it was just extremely unnerving," Tierney said. "They looked like pictures from Auschwitz."

The Dollars are accused of forcing the five children -- who ranged in age from 12 to 16 -- to sleep in a closet in the master bedroom with a "wind chime affixed to the door so that the Dollars would know if they tried to get out of the closet," Tierney said.

In addition, they are accused of using a cattle prod or some sort of stun gun to shock the children, bonding them to certain spots in the house with chains, striking their feet with hammers and pulling the children's toenails out with pliers.

"There was evidence of damage or missing toenails of these children," Tierney said.

She said it also appeared as if the Dollars tried to keep them inside the home as much as possible, and each child was home-schooled.

In the incident two weeks ago, on Jan. 21, Linda Dollar was out shopping when the 16-year-old boy was injured. John Dollar was home.

Tierney said investigators believe the husband grabbed the boy by his neck, raising him off his feet and then dropping him. The boy struck his head on a fireplace, causing the laceration to his head -- information that has been corroborated by the other children in the home, she said.

All seven children were removed from the home last Thursday and placed in the custody of the Department of Children and Families. The Dollars were to appear in court for a DCF hearing Monday. They never showed up.

Authorities believe they may be traveling in a 1996 black-and-gold Provost Marathon motor home with Florida tag number U06YAC. The couple may also be towing a 2000 gold-colored, 4-door Lexus with Florida tag number DH41D.

Authorities say anyone who sees the vehicle or vehicles should call 352-726-1121.

The couple moved to their Beverly Hills home last August from Hillsborough County, near Tampa. Before that, they lived in Tennessee with the seven children.

The children who were allegedly abused are a 16-year old boy; two twin 14-year-old boys; a 13-year-old girl; and a 12-year-old girl. The two who were not harmed were a 17-year-old girl and 14-year-old boy.

There is no evidence of sexual abuse, Tierney said

That is a horrible story. How did they manage to get legal guardianship of those children? I wonder if the children are all unrelated. Children must not have attended school, either, or surely the condition of these children would have been noticed sooner.

Hope this wonderful couple is arrested soon!

photos of suspects

Prayers of healing for the children and prayers for justice, Lanie

Those monsters are on the loose...didn't show up for a hearing on Monday. All over CNN right now.

No one has addressed the biological parents just that the Dollars were legal guardians.

In my opinion, the death penalty was custom made for people like this. :behindbar

Horrendous. I just heard about this on TV. I hope they get these two animals and FAST. I agree, they need the death penalty. Sometimes it just fits, even if nobody has been killed. I pray these children can recover and get counseling and lots and lots of love.

goneinasecond also started a thread in the Jury Room

Prayers of healing for the children and prayers for justice, Lanie

Who were the legal guardians of these children ?

:furious:
How did this go on for so long without anyone noticing?
How could people do this?
Why would people do this?
OMG ... I'm sick ...

Does anyone know anything about Beverly Hills, Florida? Is it a city or is it rural? Unless these people were isolated in the woods, I find it hard to believe that no one suspected anything. Unfortunately, many times in cases such as this, people do suspect but, they look away.

jannuncutt said:

Does anyone know anything about Beverly Hills, Florida? Is it a city or is it rural? Unless these people were isolated in the woods, I find it hard to believe that no one suspected anything. Unfortunately, many times in cases such as this, people do suspect but, they look away.

Click to expand...

It is in Citrus County....smallish community. I get the feeling the children that were damaged by the abusive monsters were rarely, if ever, let out of the house. And they weren't long time residents. They had moved earlier in 2004 from Brandon which is the Tampa area, a much larger community where most people don't know each other

Captured!!

They got the ba$tards!

Stand by for details... they were in Utah

captured in Utah!!

captured in Utah!! :woohoo:

Double :woohoo: I am so glad they caught this sick couple. Every time I hear a story like this I think "how can someone not know?", but I guess they kept to themselves and didn't let the kids out. Makes me sad Someone get the pliers out and feed them nothing, just water, if that. They need to suffer...this makes me sick!!!

It was posted on another forum...but damn glad these monsters were caught. Monsters is the word ,nothing else defines them and nothing else can aid in their defense.What brutal inhumane creatures...............................

Here are the cretins for what they are worth.



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