Two children starved, allegedly by their adoptive parents, were compared to “concentration camp survivors” by authorities, according to a Sunday report from news site KTLA 5 .
Police arrested a Peoria, Arizona couple on charges of felony child abuse after two of their adoptive daughters “outlined a pattern of ongoing physical and psychological abuse.”
The girls claim their adoptive mother said the treatment was to “train” the girls to be “loving and nurturing.”
According to a police statement on the case, Johann Glenn Jorg, 61, and wife Kimery Lynn Jorg, 53, were arrested for the crimes on Thursday. Each will be facing the same charges — felony intentional child abuse with intent — particularly for crimes involving two of their four adoptive children. The couple’s children are 7, 8, 11, and 13 years old.
Police found the two eldest children starved, describing them as “malnourished and emaciated.” The 13-year-old was hospitalized on May 30, her condition described as being that of a “concentration camp survivor,” the report stated.
She was so badly malnourished, in fact, that hospital personnel were wary of “re-feeding syndrome,” a dangerous condition that can occur when a malnourished person begins to receive proper nutrition.
The girl also had “abnormal growths on her legs, severe leathering of the skin on her buttocks due to repeated beatings, and calloused and blistered feet consistent with running on the pavement barefoot,” the police statement said.
The 11- and 13-year-old girls informed police that they were made to run “several hours a day,” spanked frequently with a wooden paddle, “and forced to memorize, recite, and repeatedly write Bible verses without any mistakes or suffer further punishment,” an interviewing officer said.
The 13-year-old was also made to live nude in the backyard with only a bucket to relieve herself.
The couple admitted that they would punish the two children “for lying and stealing,” and acknowledged that Kimery Jorg did most of the punishment, while Johann Jorg “spanked the children with the wooden paddle and recently shaved the head of the 13-year-old.”
The parents also said the little girls were “spanked several times per day” over their clothes.
The horrifying confession continued:
Neither parent was able to describe to police actual instances of the girls stealing anything, though Kimery Jorg said a single Mentos breath mint was missing during a trip to Colorado and that 22 items from a relative’s house were stolen during the trip, though she could not detail any of the items.
The parents said they often “suspected” the children were stealing …
The 13-year-old admitted that she had taken some food once “because she was hungry” and added that she was forced to eat “prison food” — oatmeal for breakfast, prunes and crackers for lunch, and grits with salsa for dinner.
The 13-year-old was 4’10” and weighed 61 pounds, below the fifth percentile and not registering on standard pediatric charts, the police statement claimed.
The 11-year-old was described as “only slightly better,” while the two younger children were “clearly favored” by the Jorgs and not subject to the abuse.
The girls also detailed “regular prison” and “deep prison.” In regular prison, the girls could sleep atop a beach towel within the home on the floor.
Deep prison meant sleeping outside “24/7,” where the 13-year-old would be nude and the 11-year-old would be made to wear a diaper.
The Phoenix New Times obtained a copy of court documents showing Kimery Jorg’s “side” of the story.
For lying, the child has to apologize for the lie, get swatted on the buttocks with a wooden paddle (# of swats equal to their age), have apple cider vinegar sprayed in their mouth (# of sprays equal to their age), hold it in their mouth for 15 seconds, swish it around for 15 seconds, then swallow. This is fallowed by a time-out of standing against a door wit hands behind the head for a number of minutes equal to their age plus one. After the time-out, the child can get a drink of water to remove the taste of the vinegar. Then the child must run outside in the heat for 60 minutes straight then write several bible verses 3 times each (# of verses equal to their age). If there are three or more mistakes the child must re-write the bible verses four times, then repeat, increasing to five, six, etc. for subsequent errors. The child must then explain the bible verses to their mother, and memorize and recite all the bible verses. If there are any mistakes, then time gets added to their 60 minute run. The punishment for stealing in the home is identical,except with the added task of mopping the floor for 45 minutes followed by cleaning the tile grout for 45 minutes, or some other comparable task.
As repugnant as this child abuse case is, it’s hardly an isolated occurrence. In April, we told you about two foster parents who starved a child with cerebral palsy and forced her to sit in her own filth. In that case, there were other children in the house who were unharmed as well.
In the case of the two children starved in Peoria, what punishment do you think the adoptive parents should face?