Parents who adopted young boys admit to abusing them, keeping them in ‘dungeon-like’ room

A Batavia Township mother and father, who prosecutors say punished their adopted boys by forcing them to sleep naked all night on the bare floor of a “dungeon-like” basement room, both admitted in court to having abuse children.

Charles Edmonson, 64, pleaded guilty Friday in Clermont County Common Pleas Court to kidnapping, felonious assault and three counts of child endangerment. His wife, Matthew Edmonson, 50, pleaded guilty to five counts of child endangerment.

As part of their plea agreements, prosecutors decided to dismiss 48 other counts against Charles Edmonson, as well as 44 other counts that Matthew Edmonson faced. They also removed the possibility that Charles Edmonson would receive a life sentence.

More: Adopted boys will need “lifelong” care after years of abuse. Were there any warning signs?

Judge Richard Ferenc imposed a minimum prison term of 15 years for Charles Edmonson and 13 years for his wife, although the Edmonsons could spend more time behind bars under a law that says the Department of Rehabilitation and correction of Ohio can extend a person’s sentence based on their conduct in prison.

“This was very carefully researched, negotiated and discussed over the last several months with the prosecutor handling this case,” said Alex Deardorff, Charles Edmonson’s attorney. “We are very grateful that they offered him this strong sentence.”

Charles Edmonson refused to speak during his sentencing. The Clermont departmental prosecutor’s office had previously declared that the couple faced sentences of more than 200 years.

Their biological son, Bailey Edmonson, was also sentenced Friday to two years of probation after pleading guilty to three misdemeanor counts of child endangerment.

“I know it took a lot of mistakes to get here, and I see the bigger picture now,” Matthew Edmonson said through tears. “I want to break the negative cycle. I ask for forgiveness. I want my sons to receive psychological and emotional healing.”

The abuse of adopted boys lasted more than 5 years

Prosecutors said the boys, four of whom suffer from a genetic disorder associated with intellectual and developmental problems, were under constant video surveillance throughout the house. Court records indicate the abuse began when the youngest boys were about 3 years old and continued for more than five years.

The brothers were adopted by the Edmonsons in February 2019, more than a year after their biological parents were terminated in Richland County, Ohio. However, court records indicate the abuse began as early as July 2018, around the time the Edmonsons took the boys in.

Five years after their adoption, the boys, then ages 13, 11 and 8, were removed from the Edmonsons’ home by court order in February. Because of the abuse they suffered, they “will each require several years, if not a lifetime, of psychiatric treatment,” prosecutors said in court filings.

Concerns about boys’ well-being began as early as 2023

Although the Edmonsons were not officially charged with child abuse until June, court records show that Clermont County Child Protective Services became concerned about the children’s safety in early 2023.

The agency began working on a voluntary case plan with the Edmonsons in January of that year “due to concerns about the family’s ability to protect the children and meet their extraordinary needs,” the agency said. court records.

Before criminal charges were filed, a juvenile court magistrate noted that the children faced many risks at home, including physical abuse from their older brother and denial of clean water.

The magistrate also found that Matthew Edmonson made the boys clean themselves in cold water, even though hot water was readily available, as punishment for accidents in the toilet. Prosecutors said this caused the children to be afraid of cold water.

Prosecutors: Boys monitored by cameras and held in basement room

Among the various forms of “punishment” described by prosecutors in a court filing in August, they said the boys were placed in a basement room that had nothing more than a bunk bed at steel structure, which often lacked mattresses or blankets.

Prosecutors said the boys were deprived of clothing, food and water while in the room — a punishment that sometimes lasted all night, forcing the children to sleep naked on the floor.

The boys were first locked in the room, but the Edmonsons then installed an alarm that went off every time the door opened, prosecutors said, adding that cameras monitored the children throughout the house.

Prosecutors said photos from those cameras showed one of the children tied to a bed in the basement. Evidence indicated that Charles Edmonson was the one who tied the child up, as his wife was suffering from carpal tunnel and had undergone surgery at that time.

The boys also had limited access to water and were often denied food as punishment, prosecutors said. They added that children were sometimes sent to school without food and regularly complained of being hungry. One was even found scavenging food from the trash.

Prosecutors said one child even reported to school officials that his eyes were rubbed with urine and feces as punishment.

Police records indicate the boys attended schools in the exempt village of Milford after being expelled from the Batavia local school district. Prosecutors said the children were told not to talk to Child Protective Services, police or school nurses because “those entities were bad.”

The abuse was only discovered in the context of a separate sexual abuse investigation into Charles Edmonsonwho pleaded guilty in March to gross sexual imposition and was sentenced to three years in prison for sexually assaulting his adopted adult son.

This article originally appeared on the Cincinnati Enquirer: Batavia couple convicted of subjecting adopted boys to years of abuse