Posted on 03/27/2023 5:29:45 AM PDT by Red Badger
Mother sentenced after 8-year-old son weighing 30 pounds found searching dumpster for food (Oklahoma County Detention Center)
EDMOND, Okla. (WKRC) - A mother in Oklahoma was sentenced Thursday for starving her young son.
Court records show Akemi Cox pleaded guilty to one count of child neglect.
Neighbors called child services back in February of 2021 after seeing the boy digging through a dumpster for food.
A case worker found the eight-year-old was slightly over three feet tall and weighed just 30 pounds.
He reportedly wore clothing made for children around 2.5 years old.
“His stomach is distended, yet he is extremely skinny and his skin is sagging,” the case worker said.
The child was treated at the hospital. While there, an officer offered to buy him food, but Cox refused.
An affidavit states that she even took food away from the boy while he was being treated, claiming it had "too much sugar."
“At a minimum this case is medical neglect, possibly shocking and heinous," a doctor said.
Investigation revealed that the boy had only gained six pounds in seven years.
His parents said they had put him on a "no-sugar diet" and fed him nothing but crackers.
Cox also pleaded no contest to child abuse by injury. She was sentenced to 30 years in prison.
Prior to her arrest, she lost custody of five other children, authorities say.
Her fiancé, Valerio Garcia, was initially charged with child abuse, but the state had that charge dismissed.
This thing had a fiance?
Valerio Garcia....................probably a ‘marriage for green card’.........................
Why on earth does it take two years to have a trial?
I hope she gets beaten.
I think it’s psychological. The mom was petrified of giving the kid sugar. Did a family member die of diabetes? Does the mom have it and wants to stop the kid from getting it. She refused the nurse from giving the kid food. That’s fear.
In our screwed up system, she could have had dozens of kids taken for abuse but when she has a new one, they refuse to take hi because she hasn't abused him yet. Her track record means nothing. They will not protect the children from abusive parents. They wait until the abuse occurs and the damage is done.
I've seen it first hand in neighbors we had the misfortune to live next to.
All social services is interested in is protecting their jobs and cash flow from the government.
Liberals.......................
Does sound like she mighta had mental problems.
It doesn’t look like she had a problem with food.
Not fear, sadism. She should have been charged for attempted murder.
If she was declared mentally incompetent, I would expect she could be institutionalized.
Otherwise, laws just don’t allow people to be locked up until a crime is committed, and that is, very much, a net good.
Can a child ever recover from this, physically and mentally, if he starts getting proper care? I think this will impact his entire life.
Horrible story. Horrible mother. So it says she was sentenced: for how long and to what— jail, probation, time served?
Or did I miss something? God forbid these journalists provide complete a story.
Yikes!
Maybe a good punishment for her would be to make her food supply in prison be the garbage cans in the cafeteria.
His parents said they had put him on a "no-sugar diet" and fed him nothing but crackers.
Terrible story.
Odd that it is from a Cincinnati, OHIO television station.
Yes, if your objective is an 8 year old the size of a 2 year old.........................
TV stations are linked by the same wire services as newspapers and radio.
Also ‘sister stations’ owned by the same corporation share stories...................
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