John Jefferson
Left inset: Larissa Ducan, Right inset: Javon Ingram (Oregon Department of Corrections). Background: The home where Ducan and Ingram tortured a then-5-year-old girl (KPTV)
An Oregon judge this week sentenced a 47-year-old woman to a decade behind bars for torturing a then-5 year-old-girl for a “prolonged” period of time.
Larissa Danielle Ducan pleaded guilty to two counts of criminal mistreatment and one count of assault for the abuse of a girl in her care. Her boyfriend Javon Markquez Ingram pleaded guilty earlier this year to four counts of assault and two counts of criminal mistreatment. He’ll be in prison until at least 2036, according to the Oregon Department of Corrections. He has been sentenced to a total of 15 years in prison.
More on Law&Crime: ‘The smell chokes you’: Mother arrested after 19-month-old dies weighing just 13 pounds, twin brother found barely alive, cops say
The investigation began in November 2021 when the girl was taken to Randall Children’s Hospital in Portland. The girl was “severely malnourished with injuries all over her body,” Multnomah County District Attorney Mike Schmidt said at the time of the arrests. She weighed just shy of 30 pounds. A child abuse pediatrician determined the girl had been tortured.
Her injuries included open sores, fractures of the thumb and pelvis, brain bleeds, and evidence she had been physically restrained, blindfolded and gagged, Schmidt said.
“Detectives went to [the girl] in the hospital room and were immediately horrified upon seeing her,” a criminal complaint obtained by Portland Fox affiliate KPTV reportedly said.
The girl reportedly told hospital staff she had been chained to a door in a loft and wearing a dog shock collar. She had not been potty trained and her abusers were using a blender to puree her food.
Portland Police Bureau detectives searched the homes where she lived and found zip ties, duct tape and a dog shock collar. Cops also reportedly found nearly 30 videos on Ingram’s phone that showed the girl being restrained by duct tape and forced to exercise.
“I could say tied her up, could say put a dog collar on her,” Ingram reportedly said. “I mean, I don’t know what else to do, dude, [be]cause I don’t have an answer for you.”
The Oregonian newspaper said in a courtroom report that Ducan’s attorney said his client was under the influence of drugs and alcohol and took on a “more passive” role in the abuse. Ducan declined to address the court.
Investigators put the girl, now 8, into the custody of another guardian, said Schmidt. Her family filed a lawsuit last year against Oregon’s Department of Human Services, claiming the agency ignored reports of abuse, the Oregonian reported. A DHS spokesperson declined to comment on the lawsuit but told the newspaper it has a 24-hour crisis hotline and investigates all cases that meet legal criteria.
Have a tip we should know? [email protected]
Read the full article here