Florida mom charged for child abuse, torture, month after telling deputies her boyfriend abused her son
DELAND, Fla. - Nearly a month after reporting that her boyfriend was abusing her son, a woman is now facing dozens of charges for brutally abusing and torturing her son, deputies said.
Taylor Schaefer, 28, is facing 25 charges related to child abuse, neglect, and torture after detectives determined she was aware that her boyfriend, Shawn Stone, 33, was abusing her son, deputies said.
Stone has been in custody since May 9 when Schaefer called law enforcement alleging that she saw Stone abusing her son on a camera in the house shortly after she left for a doctor's appointment.
Deputies said the children in the home were removed on the day of Stone's arrest as well as video surveillance footage.
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Docs: Man hit child with broom over accident
A 32-year-old man was arrested under suspicion of aggravated child abuse after he allegedly punched a 5-year-old child in the head multiple times and struck him with a broom so hard that it broke, according to the arrest affidavit. Shawn Stone denied he hit the child with a broom, but admitted to deputies that he slapped the child and that his "anger got the best of me," documents say,
The investigation revealed multiple recordings of the 5-year-old child receiving beatings while Schaefer was in the home, as well as several instances where the child was visibly injured and limping in her presence, deputies said.
On the day that Schaefer reported the abuse, a video showed her mopping up the area where the victim was beaten with the mop handle.
Credit: Volusia County Sheriff's Office
Deputies said video from the days leading up to that incident showed the 5-year-old victim was not only beaten but repeatedly left with his hands bound behind his back for hours at a time.
In one incident, his hands were bound behind his back from 6:43 p.m. one evening until 2:02 p.m. the following day. On another occasion, his legs, feet, arms, and torso were bound for at least an hour while Stone stood over him.
The cameras also recorded instances of Stone yelling at and kicking the already visibly bruised and injured victim, with Schaefer also entering the picture and telling the victim to stand up straight.
The child had 46 visible injuries in addition to internal injuries including a fractured skill, according to doctors and nurses.
Another child in the home was also forced to drink boiling water, sprayed with boiling water, and beaten with several household objects.
The couple’s charges include aggravated child abuse, child neglect, false imprisonment, failure to report child abuse, conspiracy to commit those crimes, evidence, and witness tampering.
Deputies have not yet located Schaefer.