Deputy’s Son Allegedly Said Parents Kept Him Out Of School And Abused Him

A Florida sheriff’s deputy and his wife were arrested Saturday and accused of abusing their children after their son reportedly showed photographic evidence of his injuries to authorities.

Escambia County sheriff’s Deputy Christopher George Turney, 40, who was fired, and Leandra Childers Turney, 39, were charged with child neglect without great bodily harm and two counts of contributing to the delinquency of a minor by failing to require school attendance, according to court records reviewed by HuffPost. The father also faces a charge of cruelty toward children.

The sheriff’s office confirmed with HuffPost that Christopher Turney had been a deputy for a little over two years and was terminated after his arrest.

Investigators said that Turney’s son, whose age was redacted from paperwork, walked to a church on July 28 and told a pastor that his father had been “physically abusive” and had punched him in the face, causing bruising around the eye, according to an arrest warrant obtained by HuffPost.

The child “was fearful of telling his story because he thought ‘no one would believe me because [Turney] is a cop,’” the warrant said. He told authorities that Christopher Turney had also called him names belittling him as an adoptee.

The child also gave detectives photographs of bruising and skin irritation that he said was caused by his father, according to the warrant.

The warrant said the couple had adopted the child in 2017 and since then he had not attended school or received a formal education, authorities said. The boy allegedly also told authorities that he was forced to give his father money he made mowing lawns.

Deputies also reported that they spoke to another of the Turneys’ children, who was reportedly born in 2019. The girl claimed she was being homeschooled for one to two hours a day and was unsure what grade level she was at, according to the warrant. The daughter also allegedly said that she didn’t have a toothbrush and that her father was “saving up money” to get her one. The deputies reported that they noticed some of her teeth were black from decay.

The girl also told deputies she did not have a regular doctor and saw a doctor only when she was sick, authorities said, noting that the former deputy had medical and dental health insurance for his family.

Christopher Turney denied abusing the children and said his wife was responsible for homeschooling the three school-age children in the home. He added, though, that he’d assist when she was out of town on business. He told officers his daughter has a dental appointment in Alabama in September, the warrant said.

Leandra Turney’s mother, a dental hygienist at a clinic near Pensacola, told detectives that she noticed the condition of the youngest child’s teeth in March and offered to help with dental care or finding in-network providers. However, she said, she was never asked for assistance but had given the family toothbrushes, toothpaste and basic dental care items.

The children’s grandmother also reportedly told officers that she believed the condition of the children’s teeth had been caused by neglect, according to the warrant.

Court records show the Turneys were released on bond Sunday afternoon and are scheduled to be arraigned on Aug. 23. An attorney referenced in the warrant did not immediately respond to HuffPost’s request for a comment.

The children were placed in a local nonprofit child advocacy group at the time of their interview, according to the warrant. It’s unclear if they were released to another child protective group, but police said they are no longer living with the family. Neither the police nor the care facilities would provide details on the number of children removed from the home or their ages.

In a 2021 survey, the most recent by the Children’s Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, an estimated 3,987,000 referrals of child maltreatment and abuse were received by child protective service agencies in the U.S. in 2021, representing more than 7 million children. The data showed that at least 76.8% of perpetrators were a parent of the victim.