Police in Florida brought additional charges against a child abuse suspect Saturday and are searching for the child’s mother after authorities said they found a “brutal pattern of child neglect, abuse and torture” in the couple’s home.
The Volusia County Sheriff’s Office said nearly two dozen new charges are being brought against Shawn M. Stone, 32, who was the live-in boyfriend of the victim’s mother, Taylor B. Schaefer, 28, at their residence in DeLand.
Stone was arrested May 9 on charges that he fractured the skull of a 5-year-old boy by beating him with a mop handle.
Stone is a former felon who served more than five years in prison on burglary and gun convictions, according to the Daytona Beach News-Journal. He was released in May 2021.
Ms. Schaefer remains at large. She is wanted on 25 charges related to the child abuse.
“The torture these kids endured is hard to imagine. The good news is they’re in safe hands now, and their scumbag abusers will have to answer for what they did,” Sheriff Mike Chitwood wrote in a Facebook post Saturday.
Stone is also accused of tying the child’s hands behind his back for more than 19 hours at one point, as well as binding the child’s hands, feet, arms and torso in a separate instance while Stone stood over him for at least an hour.
Authorities also discovered that the boy had been placed in a dog cage and deprived of food as a form of punishment.
Medical officials said they found more than 45 visible and internal injuries to the child.
Stone now faces 23 new charges related to the alleged acts of abuse and neglect.
Ms. Schaefer first reported her boyfriend’s behavior to police last month when she told authorities that she had a “gut feeling” that Stone was abusing her son.
The police investigation confirmed Ms. Schaefer’s suspicions after checking video recordings of beatings that took place in the home, but police said they found the child’s mother was present during much of the abuse.
For instance, the sheriff’s office said Ms. Schaefer was seen in recordings cleaning up the area where Stone is accused of severely beating the boy with the mop handle. That was the same day she reported her boyfriend to the police.
Recordings also captured Ms. Schaefer telling the boy to stand up straight while Stone yelled and kicked the already injured child, according to police.
The sheriff’s office said there were several instances in which the child was limping and noticeably injured in her presence, but Ms. Schaefer didn’t give the boy any medical attention.
Another child in the home was forced to drink boiling water and sprayed with boiling water, along with being beaten by several household objects. Police said a third child living in the house was not receiving proper nutrition for a serious medical condition.
• Matt Delaney can be reached at mdelaney@washingtontimes.com.