Crime Fix with Angenette Levy - Ohio Couple Accused of Abusing 5 Adopted Special Needs Kids: 'Worse Than Prisoners of War'

Episode Date: June 27, 2024

Matthew Robert Edmonson and Charles Robert Edmonson face five felony counts of endangering children. Clermont County, Ohio Prosecuting Attorney Mark Tekulve said the Edmonsons treated the biological siblings they adopted worse than "prisoners of war." Law&Crime's Angenette Levy talks with Tekulve about how the alleged abuse was discovered and why Charles Edmonson is already in prison in this episode of Crime Fix — a daily show covering the biggest stories in crime.PLEASE SUPPORT THE SHOW: Download the FREE Upside App at https://upside.app.link/crimefix to get an extra 25 cents back for every gallon on your first tank of gas.Host:Angenette Levy  https://twitter.com/Angenette5Guest:Mark TekulveCRIME FIX PRODUCTION:Head of Social Media, YouTube - Bobby SzokeSocial Media Management - Vanessa BeinVideo Editing - Daniel CamachoAudio Editing - Brad MaybeGuest Booking - Alyssa Fisher & Diane KayeSTAY UP-TO-DATE WITH THE LAW&CRIME NETWORK:Watch Law&Crime Network on YouTubeTV: https://bit.ly/3td2e3yWhere To Watch Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3akxLK5Sign Up For Law&Crime's Daily Newsletter: https://bit.ly/LawandCrimeNewsletterRead Fascinating Articles From Law&Crime Network: https://bit.ly/3td2IqoLAW&CRIME NETWORK SOCIAL MEDIA:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/lawandcrime/Twitter: https://twitter.com/LawCrimeNetworkFacebook: https://www.facebook.com/lawandcrimeTwitch: https://www.twitch.tv/lawandcrimenetworkTikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@LawandCrimeSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.

Wondery Plus subscribers can binge all episodes of this law and crimes series ad free right now. Join Wondery Plus in the Wondery app, Apple podcasts or Spotify. They would be punished. They would be stripped naked, placed in the basement. There are images of one child in just a horrible mess of his own waste. A couple in Ohio is behind bars accused of torturing their five adopted children, treating them like prisoners of war. That's what the county prosecutor claims. And he's here to tell us about the horrific allegations. Welcome to Crime Fix. I'm Janette Levy. I've covered a lot of terrible cases, and the allegations in this case are just beyond the pale. It's really awful. Matthew Edmondson

and her husband, Charles Robert Edmondson, are charged with five counts of child endangering. Those are felonies of the third degree in Ohio. This case is out of Claremont County. That's just east of Cincinnati. The Edmondson's house sounds like a literal house of horrors. Videos, according to the prosecutor's office, showed the children cowering in the basement naked like scared puppies. The Edmondson's didn't just abuse their children, according to the county prosecutor, Mark DeColvi. He says they tortured them and the abuse was particularly cruel. The children were in and out of the hospital for different ailments. But the prosecutor said the illnesses and injuries were explained away by their mother, Matthew Edmondson.

Matthew Edmondson is currently in the Claremont County Jail and her husband, Charles Edmondson. He's already in prison for a sex crimes case involving someone else. I'll tell you more on that in a bit. But what's particularly upsetting about the allegations in this case was the fact that these children, they were all siblings, biological siblings. They needed a home. They needed people to love them and to take care of them. They were in foster care and the Edmundsons took them in. And now they're accused of doing the unthinkable. I want to take a second to tell you about a great app that I've tried that will give

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and pizza. I got almost nine bucks back total on both. You can't beat that. Upside works at many popular gas stations and restaurants, including 7-Eleven and even Chipotle. To find out how much you could earn, click the link in the description or scan the QR code on your screen and use the promo code CrimeFix to get an extra 25 cents back on every gallon on your first tank of gas. That's promo code CrimeFix for an extra 25 cents back on your first tank of gas. I want to bring in Mark Ticalvi. He is the prosecutor of Claremont County, Ohio. Mark, thanks for coming on. The allegations in this case are horrific. These children, the abuse you claim happened

beginning in 2021. The kids, the triplets are almost nine years old. They'll be nine next week. The other kids are now 12 and 14. So talk to me a little bit about how this was discovered because it sounds like one of the sheriff's detectives discovered this abuse investigating another case and found some videos. That is exactly correct. Detective Mike Ross with the Claring County Sheriff's Office investigated Charles Edmondson for sexual abuse of the adopted adult son. Charles was sentenced to prison, three years in prison, back in March of this year. As part of that investigation, Detective Ross had confiscated his phone.

We got the search warrant. Edmondson would not reveal or release his password, so it took many months to get into that phone to get it unlocked. And once that was done, Edmondson was already in prison. In furtherance of that investigation, Detective Ross looked at the images, found photographs, videos of these children and these deplorable conditions in their home. So he brought that to our attention a week and a half ago, and we immediately got it ready for grand jury and presented it and got the indictment the other day. Were the children in the custody of Matthew Edmondson up until the grand jury indicted her?

No, they were removed a couple months ago, I believe, by CPS. I don't have specific dates on that, but they were not in Matthews' custody at the time mean, any I think anything would be almost an improvement. And of puppies trying to stay together to keep warm. And you said it was gut-wrenching and that they were naked. I mean, tell me what on earth was going on. They were undernourished, so they weren't being fed properly. Take me inside that basement, inside that home. There would be a place in the basement. There was a bed in the basement. It was a cold concrete floor. Sometimes there would be a place in the basement. There was a bed in the basement. It was a cold concrete floor. Sometimes there would be a mattress on this one bed. Often not.

The defendants, I'm not going to call them parents because they didn't act in any way that a parent should ever act. These defendants had installed a video monitoring system and audio so they could communicate back and forth with these children. They would be punished.

They would be stripped naked, placed in the basement. There are images of one child in just a horrible mess of his own waste. These three little fellows, the triplets, they are just wrapped up with one another naked. And you can imagine why they're doing this. It is for warmth and probably for comfort as well. We intend to prosecute this case and seek the maximum possible penalty, which is currently, as it stands, they're each charged with five counts of felony of a third-degree child endangering. Each of those carries up to three years.

So we're going to seek 15 years in prison for each of these individuals. The kids were in and out of the hospital. And I guess this raises some concerns. You're saying in your news release that Matthew would explain these injuries to the children away to the hospital staff. I mean, I'm assuming they went to Children's Hospital in Cincinnati, which is a really good hospital. Maybe they didn't. Maybe they went elsewhere. I don't know what hospital they went to, whether it was a physician's office locally or a children's hospital. But what I can tell you is these children are special needs children. And some of the injuries that they sustained are consistent

with the behaviors that would be exhibited by special needs children. And they didn't communicate. The defendants convinced them that adults were bad. They shouldn't report things that were occurring in the home to other adults. So my kids, when they were little, they were injured all the time. I think I went to Children's Hospital 11 times in a 12-month period. You have four boys, they're breaking bones, they're getting stitches. So that's why I think it was easy to explain away these injuries. So you're saying the videos are too graphic to describe.

I mean, you're saying they were tortured. I mean, what are we talking about here when you talk about torture? And I don't need to, I don't need like... For example... Are they being beaten? We don't have evidence of that yet. We're investigating that. This is ongoing.

We're continuing to look into whether there are additional accounts we can file against these two and we're uh we're following up with the investigation that's the best I can tell you right now it's not as if you know you imagine torture or someone who's placed on the rack or whatever and stretched uh. We don't have evidence of that, but that specific type of torture. But what these two did to these little kids was a form of torture. You put them in a cold basement,

naked, deprived them of food and attention. That is torture in a way. A lot of people who take in foster children get money to do so. These children were actually adopted. So if the allegation, and they're innocent until proven guilty, of course, the Edmonsons are, but if the allegation is that they treated these children horribly, they adopted them, I mean, why on earth adopt these children if you're going to treat them that way? I mean, have investigators spoken to Matthew Edmondson?

I mean, what's going on here? I can't answer those questions. I think you probably are onto something when you see that there's a financial interest. So they may have been getting some compensation for taking in these children. I don't know, but I've seen that happen. I can't tell you that because I don't know. But I have seen that happen in the past where foster children are adopted and there is certain compensation. But I can't answer that.

And I don't want to speculate. It wouldn't surprise me at all. Did Matthew Edmondson speak to detectives at all? We are not going to go into the specifics right now. You talked about how Charles Edmondson would not give up the password to his phone. So did you have to enlist the help of the Secret Service to unlock that or an agency such as that? We had the assistance of law enforcement without revealing the specific agency. We had assistance in unlocking that phone, yes.

Well, it sounds really awful. You know, you were quoted as saying that these kids were treated like prisoners of war. No, worse than prisoners of war. Yeah. My intention is to look at some of these images and release them. We've had an outpouring of public interest. And I think it's important and incumbent upon me to let the public have the opportunity to see what's behind a lot of this. Does this say anything about the vetting process for foster parents and adopting children?

I mean, I know there's a lot of, especially when it comes to special needs parents, you may not have a lot of people who want to take that on. So do we need tougher vetting for that? I really can't speak to that because I don't know. I know that Claremont County CPS opposed the adoption, which occurred, I believe, in Richland County. And that's all I have. I don't have any details. Of course, adoption proceedings are all private and confidential, but that is what I was told. Well, we will keep a close eye

on this. Thank you so much, Mark Toccolvi, for joining me. And I'll keep a close eye on this case and see where it goes from here. That's good. Any questions, let me know. And that's it for this episode of Crime Fix. I'm Ann Jeanette Levy. Thank you so much for being with me. I'll see you back here next time.