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6-year-old Missouri boy’s family were arrested for allegedly making him believe he was being kidnapped in order to teach him a lesson about talking to strangers, the St Louis Post-Dispatch reported.
Authorities said the boy’s mother, 25-year-old Elizabeth Hupp, along with his 38-year-old aunt, Denise Kroutil and grandmother, 58-year-old Rose Brewer kept in touch via cell phone during the 4-hour incident. They also allegedly enlisted Kroutil’s co-worker, 23-year-old Nathan Firoved, to lure the boy into his truck after school on Monday.
Once there, Firoved allegedly told the boy he would be “nailed to the wall of a shed” and that he would never see his mother again. He then tied the boy’s hands and feet up with plastic bags while covering his head with a jacket.
“Family members told investigators their primary intent was to educate the victim and felt they did nothing wrong,” authorities said in a statement.
After making sure the boy could not see where he was going, Firoved allegedly led him to the basement of his own home, where Kroutil took the boy’s pants off, warned him he could be sold into “sex slavery” and scolded him for not resisting her.
The boy informed school officials about the incident on Wednesday. On Thursday, Hupp was charged with abuse or neglect of a child and felony kidnapping. Brewer, Firoved and Kroutil face the same charges, plus additional charges of felonious restraint.
originally posted by: pheonix358
This will be an interesting one when it gets to court.
How can you be charged with kidnapping when you pick up a child from school with the permission of parents?
I think the family are nuts but once again the authorities are behaving stupidly as well.
The only sensible one here seems to be the lad.
I wonder if the care of the state his life will take a nose dive to oblivion.
P
The child was placed into protective custody. Police said they have been unable to locate the boy’s father.
Jerry Dunn, executive director at Children’s Advocacy Services of Greater St. Louis, would not comment directly on the case. But speaking in general, she said taking actions that disrupt a child’s trust and sense of security hurts healthy development.
“Kids at that age need their physical and psychological safety,” said Dunn, whose center at the University of Missouri-St. Louis serves traumatized children.
“If that is compromised, it can have a really profound effect on their functioning and their future interactions with the world.”
Dunn said that’s especially true when the trauma involves people with whom they have a strong emotional attachment.