A 42-year-old Florida man and his 35-year-old wife were arrested after he allegedly beat and berated a 12-year-old child for over half an hour over a shifted couch cushion.
Lance Rachel Sr. is charged with aggravated child abuse and battery by strangulation, while Kimberly Rachel is in jail for failing to report the assault, according to a press release from the Osceola County Sheriff’s Office. The alleged abuse happened on December 7 at a residence in Kissimmee, near Orlando.
Lance The woman “was angry about a couch cushion being displaced and accused the victim of lying,” according to police. “The suspect maliciously punished the child by screaming obscenities and physically abusing the victim over the course of 28 minutes.”
A probable cause arrest document states that some of the incident was captured on home surveillance camera.
Lance According to police, Rachel used a belt to hit the youngster more than 50 times. He is also accused of choking the victim, calling him “several disparaging names” and shouting other obscenities. Some of the names included “‘b—-, p—-, n—-, f—ing b—-, d— sucker’ and even at one point told him to ‘suck d-k’ while taking both of his hands and hitting it against his crotch,” according to the affidavit.
He also allegedly threatened to break the boy’s jaw and refused to let him sleep on a bed. Cops reported that the youngster suffered injuries to his arm after being beaten with the belt. According to the affidavit, the belt strikes were not seen on the video but could be heard on the audio recording.
Cops began investigating on December 11 after receiving reports of alleged assault from other family members who saw the video. The youngster told authorities about the alleged assault and stated he “was hit a lot but didn’t count how many times.” The boy also claimed Lance Rachel hit the other younger children in the family, who were two and three years old.
A physician allegedly determined that “due to the repeated spurning, physical attacks and depriving the child of sleep, the child’s ‘discipline’ was done in a torturous manner.”
Lance Rachel allegedly confessed to the abuse during an interview with detectives on Monday. Investigators also spoke with Kimberly Rachel about the event.
She allegedly informed detectives that she had watched the footage of the abuse. When questioned if she counted the belt strikes, she replied that she “stopped counting after reaching 15,” according to the affidavit. She “shook her head” when the detective told her it was 51 times.
Both were detained and sent to the Osceola County Jail. Lance Rachel is in jail without a bond, while his wife is on a $5,000 bond.
