Abuse case: Mom threatened to cut kids' throats if they told, records state

Charging documents against two Mardela Springs women show a pattern of abuse against three children, including forcing one of them to eat dog feces.

Toys flood the yard in the 11000 block of Norris Twilley Road between Mardela Springs and Sharptown where state police arrested two women on multiple counts of charges involving three children.

One of the children, age 8, told police his mother threatened “to cut their throats and bury them in the backyard” if he told anyone of their “business,” police stated in the report.

Amanda Rachelle Wright, 29, the mother of the children, and her live-in girlfriend, Besline Joseph, 25, were arrested Wednesday and charged with multiple counts of child abuse, assault, neglect of a minor, false imprisonment and stalking, according to documents filed in District Court.

Both women were being held without bond on Thursday afternoon, according to Maryland online court records.

Amanda R. Wright

Maryland State Police began an investigation into the two women Jan. 26 after a relative reported the abuse. On Jan. 30, police and a social worker interviewed the children, ages 8, 9 and 10, according to the charging documents. Wright and Joseph were arrested the next day.

The two women and the children had been living at a house on the 11000 block of Norris Twilley Road in Mardela Springs for six months, according to court records.

The children told police that they had endured beatings with a stick, extension cord and belt and that a Taser was used on them. Documents state that they were punished for a variety of reasons, such as being accused of stealing snacks.

Since moving to Mardela Springs, the 10-year-old boy told investigators he had been beaten roughly 10 times by Joseph with an extension cord and a belt. Documents show the child had also been hit in the head with the Taser, which he said had been used on his siblings' arms and legs.

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Joseph beat one of the children, resulting in a bloody nose that left bloodstains on the floor of the two women’s bedroom, according to court records. A witness to the abuse also reported seeing the children punched in the face, threatened with a Taser, grabbed by the neck, locked in the closet and beaten with a "spear."

One of the children told investigators he had been pushed into the washing machine, causing him to crack his head, according to documents. 

A relative glued the wound closed, documents state, and the child didn't tell anyone that he was being abused because he believed Joseph would hurt one of his siblings.

Besline Joseph

The 10-year-old “was tased on numerous occasions by Amanda (Wright) and Besline (Joseph) for not matching up laundry correctly, forgetting to feed the dog and eating food that Amanda and Besline do not want him to have,” police said in the charging documents.

The same child told police his mother “ordered him to get a plate out of the kitchen, go outside, retrieve dog feces from the yard and put it in his mouth,” according to court records. “After (the child) was forced to chew on the dog feces, Amanda (Wright) allowed him to spit it out.”

The records state two of the children, ages 8 and 10, were locked in a living room closet for four months last summer. A witness to the abuse told investigators that the pair were told they'd have to eat "prison food" during that time.

If they got loud while confined, records state that the witness told investigators Joseph would make them come out of the closet and perform squats while holding books.

“They were fed bread, water and oatmeal, and only let out to eat and eliminate themselves,” court records state, and on occasion, the children urinated on themselves because they were not let out of the closet.

A second witness told investigators, according to records, that the two children were kept in the closet overnight and not let out until around noon the next day.

The living room closet was sealed with a padlock, records show, with the interior door knob removed and hidden from the children.

Since December, the 10-year-old also reported he had been forced to sleep in the laundry room with the dog, according to charging documents, and was allowed out only to eat and use the bathroom.

The 8-year-old child told investigators he had been sleeping in the basement, documents show, and was told that he would have to stay down there "forever." 

He was allowed out in the morning, at noon and at night, documents state, and Wright would leave one of the windows open, letting in cold air and bugs, the child reported.

Records show one of the children said the sleeping arrangements were punishment because Joseph thought they had been stealing from her.

Wright and Joseph are being held at the Wicomico County Detention Center. In total, Joseph faces 29 charges and Wright faces 30 charges.

The women's statement of charges show they could be facing significant prison time, with potential penalties for the listed charges ranging from three years incarceration and/or a $1,000 fine to as much as 25 years in prison.

Joseph is also facing a separate charge in connection with a December attempted theft from the North Salisbury Boulevard Walmart.

Charging documents in that case show show she tried to steal $447.27 worth of merchandise from the store, which was recovered. A criminal summons for Joseph was issued Jan. 30.

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Twitter: @LizHolland5