These types of stories always piss me off. It is one thing to read or hear about children being abused. It is another when it is at the hands of their own parents. And it is even worse when these parents use “religious practices” or “religion” as the excuse or reason for why they do what they do. We have one of these stories breaking right now out of Broward County.
A Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue lieutenant and his wife have been arrested for “allegedly” locking their 12-year-old daughter inside a room for years at their Coral Springs home, authorities have reported. But the details are even worse, as it has been revealed that the 12-year-old child was locked in that room for upwards of three years and forced to urinate and defecate in the room and then clean it up with her clothes.
The two pieces of sh*t are Joel Christopher Kohnert, 44, and Jennifer Renee Kohnert, 45. They were arrested by Coral Springs Police on Tuesday on charges of child abuse without great bodily harm. As of the story’s release, it is not known how they were caught, which would have led to the arrest.
Both appeared before a Broward bond court judge, where their attorney described them as “devout Christians” and “devoutly religious.” Imagine that somehow that is a defense. What kind of world do we live in, where that excuses anything? And for a defense attorney, they are clearly using this to basically say, hey judge, this is normal. It was done for religious purposes. And they are protected if that is the case.
“When you allegedly have got a 12-year-old child who is locked in a room for upwards of three years and is forced to urinate and defecate in the room and then clean it up with her clothes, that is not a religious issue, that is something else,” the judge replied.
“It talks about, it says based upon the husband’s, it doesn’t say specifically what he is, but it states that locking a child in the room from the outside, he knew, was wrong,” the judge said.
The most damning part for these two scumbags is that the judge noted that in the arrest report, the couple admitted to locking the girl in the room.
The prosecutor has stated that the couple’s children had been removed from the home by the Florida Department of Children and Families. Authorities said there were additional children in the home at the time of the couple’s arrest,
The defense disputes the details in the report and is arguing for $10,000 bonds for both the husband and wife, saying they have deep ties to the community and no criminal records. The prosecutor asked for a $50,000 bond for each.
The judge said he thought they should be charged with aggravated child abuse and set their bonds at $100,000 each, ordering them to have no contact with the 12-year-old, their biological children, or any other minors.
BSO officials said Kohnert was hired by BSFR on Nov. 15, 2010., and is currently on administrative investigative leave without pay.
“They are devoutly religious. Their beliefs on various topics may not jibe with people in this courtroom, but this has been a lot of — I’m not going to say this case is predicated on, in my view — that is not a religious issue, that is something else,” said Judge Corey Friedman in Broward bond court on Wednesday.
