Left: Joseph Turner. Right: Sarah Pombert (Douglas County Sheriff’s Office).
A couple from Georgia is now in prison for reportedly forcing their 3-year-old son to reside in an unsanitary shed without access to basic amenities like water and electricity for almost a month.
Joseph Matthew Turner, aged 35, and Sarah Elizabeth Pombert, aged 34, are facing charges of endangering a child in the second degree. As per an official document issued by the Douglas County Sheriff’s Office, Turner and Pombert compelled their child to live in a shed situated at the rear of their residence on Judge Avenue in Douglasville, a location around 20 miles away from Atlanta, for close to three weeks.
Further details from Law&Crime: A child was made to sleep on top of an entertainment center to escape from the infestation of ‘hundreds of black flies and cockroaches’ in the unclean home of the parents, as stated by the police
Turner and Pombert caused “cruel/excessive, mental/physical pain” to the boy by keeping him in a “dirty living space in a shed without running water or electricity, and left the child unsupervised, unbathed, and unclothed with criminal negligence.” The alleged neglect occurred between May 1 and May 22.
Cops filed the charges on May 29 and arrested the couple on June 2, per court records.
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Local ABC affiliate WSB spoke to neighbor Matthew Govoni who said the shed burned down over Memorial Day Weekend, which is what sparked the investigation. Govoni said “there was a huge fire with explosions” that destroyed the shed. The warrant did not detail the fire nor how investigators discovered the alleged abuse of the boy who was not injured in the fire.
Govoni said the couple lived in the home for about 10 years and were not the best of neighbors. He was not shocked by the allegations.
