Dad busted for failing to report abuse: Stepson ‘is not my responsibility’
A Florida man who was arrested after investigators found his 5-year-old stepson severely malnourished and still in diapers told authorities the boy was not his “responsibility” since he comes from a “rich and white” family.
Brian Hall, 29, is facing charges of failing to report suspected child abuse after his wife, Naomie Hall, 24, was arrested in late June when caseworkers from the Florida Department of Children and Families visited her home for a follow-up visit in a child neglect investigation, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
“He is not my responsibility,” Hall told investigators, according to a Daytona Beach Police Department arrest affidavit. “I’m not his father. I come from a rich and white family.”
The boy – who was so malnourished that he couldn’t speak or stand – was discovered eating pieces of cereal off filthy carpet in the home. He suffered from dehydration and weighed just under 25 pounds, which authorities said didn’t even register on growth charts for a child his age.
Police said the couple share a home in Daytona Beach and are parents of two other children in the home. While being question by investigators, Brian Hall pointed to his children and said, according to an arrest report: “Those two are taken care of.”
Brian Hall was legally obligated to report the neglect of the boy, investigators said.
The boy, meanwhile, remained in intensive care as of Tuesday at a hospital. He’s also receiving physical and speech therapy. The state’s Department of Children and Families took custody of the couple’s other two children, the Orlando Sentinel reports.
Naomie Hall admitted to authorities during her arrest on June 29 that the boy went without food for stretches as long as four days – and said she made no attempt to feed him. Hall said she and the boy did not communicate but acknowledged knowing that he was hungry “because he will chew on his hands,” according to an arrest report obtained by the Sun Sentinel.
The boy, who also had blistered hands and feet, was prescribed an appetite stimulant, but Hall said she didn’t use it because it was ineffective and made her son drowsy. The boy’s clothes were “filthy” and he apparently had not bathed in “quite a while,” police said.
Police and child welfare advocates declined to release details on the welfare of the other two children in the home at the time of Naomie Hall’s arrest on a charge of child neglect causing great bodily harm.
“We’re of course investigating thoroughly to ensure the safety of these children,” a DCF spokesman told the Sun Sentinel last week. “We’re still working to gather information but our focus is on keeping these children safe and healthy.”
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