A married couple locked their three adopted children in cages and fed them dog food in a horrific regime of abuse, a court heard today.
The Oklahoma parents allegedly tortured the children with red hot irons, beat them until they were unconscious and even grabbed their genitals with pliers - all while being paid $1,500 a month to 'care' for them.
Sonja Kluth, 57, is accused of attacking the children - two boys aged 15 and 11 and a girl aged nine - with the buckle ends of belts and broom handles until they passed out.
She has admitted to police she had become a 'monster'.
The case emerged just days after a father in Florida was charged with attempted murder for allegedly dousing his children with acid, and 24 hours after a hospital director from California was jailed for 248 years after he adopted a young boy specifically to be his sex slave.
They never had a chance: Details of horrific lives of adopted 'acid attack' twins emerge as authorities missed warning signs again and again
In one incident, Kluth is alleged to have repeatedly smashed the eldest boy's finger's with a mallet and as he fled told him: 'Get back up here...you know I need blood'.
In another, the court documents said, the girl's earring was ripped from her ear, and she was struck in the face with a telephone that broke a tooth.
The full extent of the alleged cruelty emerged after Kluth and her husband John, from rural Yukon, Oklahoma, were arrested on multiple child abuse charges.
The couple were being paid $1,500 in adoption assistance by the state of Wisconsin, where the family had previously lived. Money is paid to adoptive parents in certain circumstances, such as when a large sibling group is adopted together, or where the children have special needs.
'These people were basically out just for the money,' said the couple's biological son, Bill. 'They weren't out for taking care of these kids.
'They were just put on a regiment where you can't talk to the kid, you can't love the kid, you can't say anything to the kid. The kids always had to sit in the corner, so we knew things weren't right.'
The court documents, which were filed in Canadian County, revealed that the three children were forced to live in an underground storm cellar where they were kept in metal crates usually used to hold dogs.
The two boys were fed dog food and the girl was given cat food. They were warned if they asked for any other food they would be beaten.
The court affidavit said the punishment could include beatings, sleeping in a 14-square-foot cellar, deprivation of food or running laps.
On another occasion the 15-year-old boy said his tongue was burned with a scalding hot kitchen utensil and he also suffered other burns to his body.
WHY WERE THE PARENTS BEING PAID TO ADOPT?
In the U.S. children adopted from foster care who meet their state's definition of special needs are eligible to receive federal or state adoption assistance to minimise the financial obstacles to adoption.
There is no federal definition of special needs but it can include:
- Having a physical or health problem
- Having a history of abuse or neglect
- Having siblings and needing to be adopted as a group
He also said his genitals were squeezed with pliers and he was repeatedly struck in the face with hard objects, such as dog food bowls.
The court documents reveal that Mrs Kluth was the most violent and would often 'slide throw' the children across the floor so they would get carpet burns.
But her 50-year-old husband is alleged to have stood by and done nothing to protect the children from his wife.
One of the boys showed an investigator his disfigured fingers and said one was from being smashed with the can opener, the other a mallet.
'They've been abused just about every way imaginable, they've been burned, cut, beat,' said Canadian County Sheriff Randall Edwards.
The alleged abuse is thought to have lasted at least five years and was only discovered when police found the oldest boy sleeping rough outside a shop.
He revealed the systematic abuse to stunned investigators and police raided the family home.
Sheriff Edwards said during police interviews John Kluth expressed remorse but his wife maintained she was only disciplining the children.
'The husband has shown signs of outward guilt and remorse,' said the sheriff. 'The adoptive mother insists that's the way you gain control and discipline children.'
The couple were freed from jail after posting bond of $9,000 and $7,500.
A spokesman for the Oklahoma Department of Human Services said the children would not have been monitored by them.
