A Florida firefighter and his wife have been arrested after allegedly locking their 12-year-old adopted daughter in a bedroom for years, where she slept on an air mattress and had no access to a bathroom, authorities said.
Joel Kohnert, 44, a Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue lieutenant, and his wife Jennifer Kohnert, 45, were arrested on Tuesday and each charged with one count of child abuse without great bodily harm, according to jail records.
The allegations came to light in February when the Department of Children and Families began investigating after a meeting with a school resource officer. The girl told investigators that for two to three years, her bedroom door was locked from the outside overnight and sometimes during the day, and her window was also locked. A sound machine was played at high volume to prevent her from hearing others in the home.
She said she was called derogatory names and told she had bipolar disorder like her biological mother. As punishment, she was allegedly required to write Bible verses and tread water in the pool for up to 45 minutes. The girl had no access to a bathroom and was forced to wash her clothes in a bucket and bathe outside. Her room contrasted starkly with those of other children in the home, which were clean and furnished.
During a bond hearing on Wednesday, a defense attorney described the couple as “devout Christians,” but Judge Corey Friedman rejected the notion that religion could justify the alleged treatment. “When you’ve allegedly got a 12-year-old child who is locked in a room for upwards of three years and is forced to urinate and defecate in the room and then clean it up with her clothes, that is not a religious issue, that is something else,” the judge said.
The couple is being held on $100,000 bond each. Joel Kohnert has been placed on administrative investigative leave without pay. The children in the home have been placed in state custody.
