A teenage boy, L. (b. 2007), was imprisoned and tortured by his parents, Joseph and Peggy Flores. L. was homeschooled.
Joseph Flores had a conviction of sexual assault in 2002 and had a warrant for his arrest in Colorado for failure to register as a sex offender. According to L., the Floreses began to abuse him in March 2020 after the public school district was shut down due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Several news articles identify L. as being homeschooled during this time, although no education occurred.
The Floreses locked L. in a room with the window nailed shut and imprisoned him in a dog kennel, naked, with two dogs. They poured urine on L, yelled profanity at him (including racial slurs), and hit him with an extension cord. When L. was later examined, the medical examiner found bruising and scarring on his body.
The abuse came to light when L. talked to an investigator at the Child Advocacy Center in July 2020. Due to the pandemic, it took a long time to investigate the abuse and remove L. from the Floreses’ custody. The Floreses were charged with child abuse in June 2022.
Date: June 2, 2022
Location: Springfield, Missouri
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