TBO.com - TBO is Tampa Bay Online

Girl Reports Belt Beatings; 2 Arrested

ADVERTISEMENT

By LISA A. DAVIS

ldavis@tampatrib.com

Published: January 31, 2009

NEW PORT RICHEY - Nearly every day since September, the 10-year-old girl was repeatedly beaten with a belt because she didn't finish her chores fast enough, according to a Pasco County Sheriff's Office report.

A New Port Richey couple was arrested Thursday on felony charges of child abuse.

Danielle Marie Johns, 24, of 13014 Hialeah Ave., was released from the Land O' Lakes Jail on Thursday after posting $5,000 bail. Robert Gordon Troidl, 35, of the same address, was being held Friday with bail set at $5,000.

Johns hadn't returned a telephone call seeking comment by late Friday afternoon.

The 10-year-old girl told child protection investigators the beatings started in September and continued through the couple's arrest. She usually was struck with a black leather belt when she hadn't completed her list of chores within 15 minutes, the reports state.

A medical assessment revealed she had been "brutally beaten about the buttocks numerous times," according to the reports. Her buttocks and upper thighs were covered with bruises and were in various stages of healing "consistent with having been beaten numerous times over a period of time," the reports state.

She has been taken into protective custody.

Johns and Troidl refused to speak with detectives.

Share this:

Loading Comments...

Email Print

ADVERTISEMENT