A 12-year-old boy, the son of Michael Marshall, was starved and imprisoned by his father and his father’s girlfriend, Sharon Glass, reportedly for stealing food. Two other children, Marshall’s 10-year-old daughter and Glass’s 5-year-old son, also lived in the home.
The abuse began in 2009 when Glass moved in with Marshall. Glass’s ex-husband, Tony Glass, called child protective services 12 times, concerned that the three children were dirty and had head lice. Officials at the boy’s school also called child protective services several times. Welfare officials investigated in the summer of 2010 but could not find enough evidence to substantiate the claims. Following the investigation, the boy was removed from school in August 2010 to be homeschooled. Though Marshall and Glass claimed that he was then enrolled in a private school, there is no evidence for this.
Marshall and Glass first locked the boy in a closet with diapers to relieve himself and ramen noodles to eat. Later, he was locked in a bathroom after his father zip-tied him to the post of a bunk bed for three days and he chewed through the ropes to escape. On Christmas day in 2011 he was let out of the bathroom to watch his siblings open gifts, while he received a stocking full of coal.
The boy was discovered in March 2012 locked in the bathroom by a family friend, who reported it to the police. He weighed 40 pounds.
Marshall pleaded no contest to eight charges of child abuse, torture and false imprisonment and will be sentenced in April 2014. Glass was found guilty on eight counts of aggravated child abuse and sentenced to 40 years in prison.
Date: March 15, 2012
Location: Titusville, Florida
