N.C. Couple Faces Charges for Child Abuse
A couple from North Carolina is facing serious allegations involving the mistreatment of six children. Authorities have reported that one child was found locked in a dog kennel, surrounded by waste, in what they described as a “filthy” home.
The Wake County Prosecutor’s Office revealed that Lacey Douglas Hocutt Jr., 34, and Rachel Lee Galasso, 33, were arrested on Wednesday. They are suspected of exposing the children, aged between 1 and 15, to dire living conditions.
Reports indicate that the children were removed from the home in mid-February, and each had various medical issues. Prosecutors noted that a teenager’s scoliosis had progressed so severely without treatment that surgery was no longer an option, and she would live with the condition for life.
Additionally, some children’s dental health was so poor that an adult tooth needed to be extracted, causing them pain when trying to chew. In a particularly troubling case, a 13-year-old boy was discovered in a dog cage, reportedly covered in feces, with a weight that was described as “life-threatening.”
In court, an assistant district attorney shared a harrowing account of the boy’s behavior, indicating he was distraught, repeating, “You’re never going to get out,” seemingly echoing what he had been told during his confinement.
According to an arrest warrant obtained by local media, Hocutt allegedly raped one of the children over a span of at least four years, starting in October 2017. He is facing three counts of statutory rape of a child under 15 and six additional counts of statutory rape involving an adult.
Galasso is charged with two counts of negligent child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury. Reports mention that when Child Protective Services and law enforcement arrived at their residence, conditions were so deplorable that investigators required protective gear.
In a concerning finding, it was noted that none of the six children had been enrolled in school and lacked basic reading and writing skills.
Hocutt and Galasso were apprehended in a motel located in Raleigh.
