Married couple and their daughter tortured foster children for years, CA cops say
A married couple and their daughter have been arrested after being accused of torturing six foster children in their care, California deputies say.
The husband and wife — Kenneth Key, 60, and Tina Key, 60, — and their daughter, Katlynn Key, 23, were each booked into jail on a torture charge, the San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Department said in a May 13 news release.
An investigation into the “severe and prolonged abuse and neglect” of the couple’s foster children at the Victorville home started in February after the sheriff’s department got a tip through its child abuse hotline, according to deputies and Mara Rodriguez, a sheriff’s department spokeswoman.
The children are 5, 8, 11, 12 and two 16-year-olds, Rodriguez said in an email to McClatchy news.
Some of the children have been in the home for as long as 10 years, Rodriguez said.
While there were no previous reports of neglect, “the allegations of abuse and neglect have been occurring throughout that duration,” Rodriguez said.
After the three family members were identified as suspects, they were arrested and booked into jail, where they are being held on $1 million bail, deputies said.
Victorville is about an 80-mile drive north from Los Angeles.
