A Pennsylvania mother and her boyfriend were arrested on Friday after an investigation into their home life “where children in their house were experiencing being beaten with a belt and firearms in the house were used to threaten and strike the children.
Maria Roche, 31, has been charged with aggravated assault endangering the welfare of a child, and simple assault, the Harrisburg Police Department said. William Witherspoon, 41, was charged with endangering the welfare of a child.
Court documents say the investigation began on February 24 when Dauphin County Children and Youth Services contacted police after getting a report from a 12-year-old child, WPMT reported. A caseworker visited on the home on February 17. At that time, Roche said they did keep firearms in the home.
A month later, CYS conducted interviews with two of the children, and one of them told interviewers that Roche frequently forces them to choose “the gun or the belt” for discipline.
One of the victims said that Roche fired a shot at a sibling’s head but missed. The victim said that Roche had had one of the other children retrieve her gun before she fired the shot.
Witherspoon, the victims said, knew all about the incidents and laughed whenever they happened.
One of the victims said that Roche stores her guns under the bed and that she (the victim) once tried to secretly unload the gun but couldn’t do it.
another victim told investigators that Roche once put the barrel of a gun between the eyes of one of the siblings.
One of the victims told investigators he was struck by a belt on his back, arms, and neck, and described the belt to police.
Roche and Witherspoon, who are native born Pennsylvanians, are being held aon $10,000 bails with preliminary hearings scheduled for April 8.
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[Featured image: Maria Roche and William Witherspoon/Harrisburg Police Department]
