Man Accused Of Forcing Stepson To Eat Screws As Punishment

[Dakota Valkyrie]

A man has been charged with beating his 12-year-old stepson and forcing him to eat screws off the ground at their home on Scott Air Force Base property. The boy’s mother is also in custody, according to deputies.

James P. Jennings was charged with one count of felony aggravated battery, two counts of domestic battery and four counts of endangering the life of a child. He’s in custody on a $400,000 bond.
[...]

The child told investigators that he was punished for leaving his bedroom to eat cookies. The child was forced to eat crumbs from the kitchen floor and two metal screws. X-rays showed the screws were still in the child’s stomach, according to Captain Johnson.

The child was also forced to do 700 push-ups before he was beaten.
[...]

The child’s mother, who adopted him five years ago, was on active military duty and out of state this week. She flew in from Florida and was interviewed and taken into custody.
[...]

Captain Johnson said Jennings, who’s not on active military duty, has been married to the woman for about a year.

Air Force investigators are involved in the case.

It’s not yet clear if the mother will be charged, Johnson said.

http://www.kmov.com/news/crime/Man-a...144033536.html

According to Captain Steve Johnson, a sheriff's department spokesman, deputies were contacted Thursday by a school nurse at Scott Elementary School. The nurse told deputies a 12-year-old complained about shoulder pains. The nurse discovered the child had bruising on his arms, back and buttocks.

Investigators learned the boy's stepfather, identified by the State's Attorney's Office as 39-year-old James P. Jennings, was upset with the child because he left for work Wednesday night at 10 p.m., he instructed the boy not to leave his bedroom. The child did leave the bedroom, ate some cookies for a snack, and let dogs out around the house.

Upon returning from work about 2 a.m., investigators said Jennings discovered the boy had come out of the bedroom, got cookies, and let the family's pet dogs outside.
[...]

The man is believed to have struck the boy with a belt and bloodied the child's nose. Investigators said the father became angry and struck a chair, knocking two screws out of it. The suspect then allegedly forced the boy to lick up and swallow the screws.

The ordeal ended around 5 a.m. Jennings forced his stepson to go back to bed and then woke him up a short time later to go to school.
[...]

Johnson also said the child told them he sustained another of beating on Tuesday. At that time, the suspect allegedly broke a wooden paddle on the boy and forced him to do more than 350 pushups.

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/311...rtured-stepson

Jennings thought the chocolate from the cookies could harm the dogs, so he forced the boy to eat new and old crumbs off the ground.
[...]

"It seems we care more about the dogs than the child," Johnson said in regard to Jennings.

At the same time, Jennings beat the boy with a belt and punched him in the face.

http://www.bnd.com/2012/03/23/v-prin...than-1000.html


For the life of me, I can't figure out how someone can even think up this shit.

[Valasca]

I need to learn to rebuild a dock. Where I am living has a dilapidated one.
I'll keep all the old nails from it and we can feed them to this... POS.

[TheMeaningOfItAll]

How do you look at screws and think that eating them would be a good punishment for a kid?! So what if the kid let the dogs out and ate a few cookies? This guy is a mean bastard. I wonder how much the mother knew was going on. I'm sure she was aware he was a huge douche and if she knew he abused the kid and left him alone/did nothing about it, I say hang her.

[AngelFire]

The screws must have come from that asshole's empty head. I don't even know what to say anymore. All I think of is killing someone

[Silvahalo]

Somebody just kick this sorry, sack of shits ass into next week...what a sadistic fuck.
The so called mother should be sitting in the cell with him, no if and's or maybe about it.

I hope this kid gets help a lot of it or we'll be reading on him in no time.

[Nell]

deputies were contacted Thursday by a school nurse at Scott Elementary School. The nurse told deputies a 12-year-old complained about shoulder pains. The nurse discovered the child had bruising on his arms, back and buttocks.

"And then the nurse gave him a pillow for his chair and told him to try not to cry."

Wait. That was me. Glad the times have changed.

[melissa222]

OH this bastard must think he is BAAADDD!!!!! Oh but just wait you nasty looking fuck, you will get put into gen pop where half the guys in there have some horrid stories floating around in their head about some step daddy bastard.... YOU will get your big ass kicked.... This was not punishment this was sadistic torture... these fucking bastards, and the mental scars he has left on this "adopted" child for the rest of his life, it sickens me... people act like they are 'saving' these kids only to subject them to some other form of hell by their dick.. yeah mom needs to hang too for leaving her saved child with this bastard, they had been married a year i am sure she knew what an mean ass he was... hell this is one story where the picture fits the bastard... ugh!

[lolabelle13]

This happened on Scott Air Force Base, where I live. It's pretty small, and we've been here for a year, so I just KNOW I've been in contact with this asshole at some time. Same building, same general air, whatever.
I am not sure if it was mentioned in the article quoted (I scanned over the one at sltoday.com a couple of days ago) but the one I read said the nurse at the school discovered his bruises. Thank God it was someone like her, I know her well as my daughter spends lots of time in her office with special needs and she is so wonderful with the kids. I am sure that she did everything she could to help.
I hope he heals completely and this piece of shit gets what's coming to him. How hard is it to care for a 12-year-old for a week? His mugshot makes me so angry!

[lolabelle13]

2 in 2 days on Scott:
http://www.kmov.com/news/local/Secon...144113666.html

[Whisper]

Lashawn Jennings

update

Charges were also filed against the alleged victim's mother. Lashawn Jennings was charged Saturday with endangering the life of a child, a misdemeanor.

Lashawn Jennings is being held at the St. Clair County jail on a $20,000 dollar bond.

Scott Air Force Base, IL (KSDK) - Charges have been filed by St. Clair County State's Attorney Brendan Kelly against a man who allegedly beat his stepson and forced him to do hundreds of push-ups on at least two occasions.
[...]

http://www.ksdk.com/news/article/311...ar-old-stepson

[Tundratot]

WTF!! Chocolate is poison to dogs, but not in a very low dose. I know people who used to let their dog have a piece of chocolate with them every morning . . . for years. (Obviously not a big one.) A few chocolate crumbs were no danger to the dogs. The jackass was being an overly aggressive authority figure. I'd say he was feeling impotent and overcompensating.

So, he spent 3 hours "disciplining" the kid in the wee hours of the morning! Shit bag. And apparently decided he wasn't done and revisited the "disciplining" idea a few days later? Or was that supposed to be another offense, another discipline session? If the latter, what was the grave offense this time -- putting the toilet paper roll on the wrong way?

[Ninja0980]

THere are people out there who value their pets lives yet have no regards whatsoever for human life. Jennings is clearly one of them.

[Morbid]

BELLEVILLE, IL — *A 12-year-old boy is breathing a sigh of relief after his adoptive parents are arrested and charged with torturing him by making him eat screws and do over 1,000 push-ups as punishment. The oddly similar looking couple’s entertainment was brought to light after the boy confided in his elementary school nurse that he was being abused at home. After closer examination, the boy was found to have bruises on his back, legs and arms which sparked an abuse investigation. Investigators state that the boy’s most recent torture session started before school when the boy haphazardly ate a cookie in a less-than-tidy manner. James Jennings, the boy’s stepdaddy, found crumbs in the kitchen and feared his dog would get sick by eating the cookie crumbs and, in turn, handled the situation as any clear-headed adult would. He allegedly pulled the boy out of his room, beat the boy with a wooden paddle, made him eat the cookie crumbs off the kitchen floor along with some loose screws, then forced him to do 1,000+ push-ups on his knuckles. X-rays would reveal the screws still inside the boy’s stomach. Lashawn Jennings, 39, the female part of the moon-face equation, adopted the boy 5 years prior, before she married James. She is active duty military and was out of state at the time of the screw-eating incident. James Jennings is being held on charges of felony aggravated battery, two counts of misdemeanor domestic battery and four counts of misdemeanor endangering the life of a child with a bail of $400,000. Lashawn is there as well, charged with misdemeanor child endangerment with a bond of $20,000. No other information regarding the mother’s role is available but I can’t help but wonder what part she played, if any.
This article is from The Dreamin' Demon, the Internet's self-appointed buzzkill.


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