They arrested a youtuber mother with 800,000 followers who tortured their seven adopted children if they acted badly in their videos

An Arizona mother who had thousands of subscriptions on her YouTube channel was arrested for abuse and physical abuse of her seven adopted childrenhe has forced to act, local media reported Tuesday.

Machelle Hackney, 48, was arrested after police officers from Maricopa County found out children locked in wardrobes, dehydrated and malnourished.

According to the authorities, the woman allegedly punished them, among other reasons, when the miners forgot their lines of dialogue or did not comply with the instructions given to them. The account gathered nearly 800,000 followers and 250 million reproductions, accompanied by adventures of children who had to smile in front of the camera.

The miners told the officers that they had been sprayed with pepper spray, beaten, forced to take an ice bath and who were locked up for days in a closet without food, water or access to a bathroom.

Police reports show that one of the miners reported that once the woman put pepper spray on her private parts and she had pain for four to five days.

March 13th Hackney's biological daughter alerted the policeafter which the officers reported that they found the pale children, with low weight and with dark circles.

Hackney also had two adult children, Ryan and Logan, who sometimes appeared in the videos and were responsible for preparing the food. Both were arrested for not reporting abuse.

The miners told the police that they were thirsty and hungry. While the police were chatting with one of the children, he drank a liter and a half of water in 20 minutes while describing that Hackney had sprayed them with pepper spray several times, according to the police report. . On the other hand, one of the girls who claimed to be hungry did not want to eat a bag of chips because she feared that her mother would notice it in her breath.

A neighbor of the family commented on his surprise when he discovered what was happening a few feet from his home. "We met them, I brought my children to introduce them. they could never playBruno Schlueter explained to the portal AZFamille. When they heard about the success of the YouTube channel, Schlueter's kids wanted to know more about them, but they still could not spend time with them without further explanation.

For its part, a couple who runs another YouTube children's channel and records a collaborative episode denied seeing anything strange when he met the kids. "They were normal children, they played with boys. I would have liked to see it, it's frustrating. It makes me angry not to notice, especially when I work with children all day, "said Tawny and Zeb Schnorr, directors of" Extreme Toys TV ".

During, mother's channel videos continue online. As reported by YouTube, the portal removed the advertisement from the account as soon as it became aware of the arrests and investigated the case to determine if the user will be released. It has not been reported how much the family has earned with millions of reproductions.

The Department of Child Services (DCS) released the seven children from Hackney Prison. When the police raided the house, they found two cans of pepper spray in the adoptive mother's room, a wardrobe with a security lock, and a windowless room with furniture, blankets, clothes, or toys.

The children, who claimed not to have attended school a few years ago, told the DSC that the woman had removed them to record the series full-time.

(With EFE information)