Frederick_A case of teenage bullying in Frederick has turned into one of the worst cases of child abuse local law enforcement has ever investigated. Police say three teenage boys face felony charges after they forced a mentally and physically handicapped boy to eat feces.
Investigators believe it happened in the town's Rotary Park.
As if the crime is not bad enough, officers say one of the boys recorded video of the ordeal with his cell phone. The victim is 14, but because of his disability, his mental capacity is that of a young child.
Police say he's a nice boy who often rides his bike around and tries to be friends with everyone, even the boys who investigators say did an awful thing to him.
The investigation began this week when police received a call from the school resource officer at Frederick High School.
A student reportedly heard about a disgusting video another 15-year-old student had recorded. Police tracked down that boy's parents, and asked to take a look at the teen's cellphone, where they found two archived videos.
"One of those showed three juvenile males intimidating a mentally and physically handicapped child into consuming his own feces," said Sgt. Scott Skinner, Frederick Police.
After watching the video, investigators determined the incident happened on a bridge in Frederick's Rotary Park. Judging by the tree foliage at the time they believe it happened some time last fall.
Sgt. Skinner says the second video shows the suspects verbally bullying the handicapped victim. All the while...
Police say the video was so bad they did not know what to charge the boys with originally. After conferring with the district attorney's office, they decided on felony child abuse and conspiracy to commit child abuse.
The two 15-year-olds were arrested at Frederick High School and the 14-year-old at the middle school.
Skinner says the boys showed little remorse, and thought the incident was funny.
They were booked into the Tillman County jail and then taken to the juvenile detention center in Comanche County.
We heard some rumors they may have posted video of the ordeal on the internet, but police say they found no evidence of that.
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