[ad_1]
Flavaine Carvalho was not supposed to work a shift at the Ms Potato restaurant on New Years Day, but someone called in sick, so she took over, her boss Rafaela Cabede said at a press conference Thursday afternoon .
The rest of the day had been busy since the holidays, but things had finally slowed down and this family was the last table of the night, she said.
“We sincerely believe it was a sacred provision, and we were very happy to have been able to help this child,” Cabede explained.
“Thanks to her, two children … were saved,” Orlando Police Chief Orlando Rolon said at the press conference. “We probably would have talked about a possible homicide investigation if she hadn’t intervened when she did.”
Carvalho said the boy wore a mask and hoodie as he sat at the table with two adults and a young girl.
Although she couldn’t see much, Carvalho said she noticed he had a scratch between his eyebrows and he hadn’t ordered anything and was not eating, although food had been. brought to the table.
“ You do not deny a child’s food ”
Carvalho said she found it strange that the child did not eat and that he was silent while the others were talking and playing.
She asked at the table if their food and drinks were okay. When one of the adults replied that the boy would eat his dinner at home, Carvalho said she started to think that something else was going on.
“You don’t refuse food for a child, especially in a restaurant,” Carvalho said.
She then saw bruises on the side of the boy’s face and arm and decided to see what she could do to help.
“I just thought I had to do something,” Carvalho explained. “I couldn’t see him leave without any help.”
Caravalho wrote a note asking the boy if he was okay and stood behind the parents where they couldn’t see.
The boy nodded. “I knew it – that he’s scared or uncomfortable saying he needs help,” Carvalho said.
So she decided to write another note.
This one said, “Do you need help?” Carvalho said the boy nodded and “made a movement with his hands showing he didn’t know what to do.”
Carvalho called his boss and then called 911.
During a call to 911, Carvalho tells dispatchers that she is worried about the boy.
“One of the children has a lot of bruises on his arms and face and the parent does not give him food but gives to the other children who are with them,” she said in the recording sent to CNN by the Orlando Police Department. “I’m super worried and don’t know what to do. Can you give me some advice?”
Boy details abuse allegations
Police arrived and questioned the child, who told detectives he was abused by his stepfather, identified by police as Timothy Lee Wilson II, Inspector Erin Lawler said. of the Orlando Police Special Victims Unit at the press conference.
The boy told detectives he was hit with a wooden broom, hung upside down from a door and was routinely denied food as punishment, according to a press release from the Orlando Police Department.
Wilson was arrested at the restaurant and the boy’s mother, Kristen Swann, was taken into custody on January 6 after the boy made further revelations about alleged abuse, Lawler said.
The stepfather is accused of multiple counts of child abuse and neglect, according to court records.
A press release from the Orlando Police Department said Swann admitted to detectives that she was aware of the abuse and did not seek medical attention for her son. She is charged with two counts of child neglect, court records show.
A 4-year-old was taken from the home following the parents’ arrest and was found to have suffered no abuse, according to Lawler.
‘It shocks your soul’
Lawler said the boy was Swann’s child and the 4-year-old was Swann and Wilson’s child.
After Carvalho called 911, the boy was taken to hospital for his injuries, where he was found to be 20 pounds underweight for his age, according to Lawler.
Bruises all over the boy’s body in various stages of healing were also noted, Lawler said.
“What this child went through was torture,” Lawler said with tears in his eyes. “I am a mother and I see what this 11 year old girl had to endure … It shocks your soul.”
“If Mrs Carvalho hadn’t said something when she saw him, this little boy probably wouldn’t be with us much longer,” she added.
Lawler said the boy told investigators he was abused on Christmas Day when parents said Santa suggested he be punished. The punishment included he was handcuffed to a furniture cart, Lawler said, his hands behind his back with ratchet straps on his ankles and was forced to break free. He was also hanged upside down from his ankles in a door with ratchet straps, Lawler said.
The detective said the parents said they would punish him by making him do boards for 30 minutes and beat him when he couldn’t.
Wilson and Swann were both enrolled in the Orange County Jail.
CNN has contacted a lawyer for Wilson but has yet to hear back. CNN has not been able to determine if Swann has legal representation.
Court records show Wilson attended a January 6 first appearance on four counts, including three counts of aggravated child abuse and one count of child neglect.
They both remain in the Orange County jail, Orlando Police Department spokeswoman Heidi Rodriguez told CNN in an email Thursday.
[ad_2]
Source link