MARGATE, Fla. – Residents living near an alleged house of torture on Northwest 79th Terrace in Margate said Tuesday they were horrified to learn of what police say was the brutal abuse of a 15-year-old girl.
Police arrested a fourth member of the household on Sunday on apparently unrelated charges. Horace Crawley, 74, faced counts of failing to re-register as a sex offender.
But three other family members of the 15-year-old are alleged to have participated in the abuse, which included beatings, starvation and caging the teen in a closet, police said.
Police first arrested the girl’s aunt and uncle, Latricia Elizabeth Crawley, 46 and Benjamin Deztuan Lockett, 43, in late October after the girl told her online instructor about the torture.
They were accused, at various times over the span of a decade, of oiling the girl’s knees and forcing her to “kneel on rice for several hours at a time,” leading to permanent scarring, striking the girl’s toes with a hammer, binding her with rope and pouring boiling water on her stomach.
Police said Latricia Crawley would also tape the girl’s eyes shut while her head was dunked in water.
“I didn’t even know they were doing that,” a neighbor, who asked not to be identified, said. “We were very shocked.”
She continued, “There are several neighbors down the street that do have small children and they are outside playing, so that is definitely a concern.”
On Thursday, authorities arrested the teenager’s 20-year-old sister, Shankyria Latricia Clayton. She’s accused of joining her aunt and uncle in caging and starving the girl and failing to report the abuse.
Authorities said the victim told officers that she would sometimes be tied up with zip ties inside the closets and was forced to sleep there.
“That is very concerning,” another neighbor, who also asked not to be identified, said. “If they were doing all that to her, I can only imagine what she went through.”
As for Horace Crawley, it’s not yet clear whether he was aware of or participated in the abuse.
Margate police indicated additional charges in the case remained a possibility Monday, saying their investigation remains “open and active.”
“We’re going through the course of our investigation to determine how many more, if any, people will be charged with abuse and neglect of our victim,” Margate police Lt. Alain Banatte told Local 10 News via email.
Latricia Crawley, Lockett and Clayton, all facing various child abuse charges, were no longer listed in Broward jail records as of early Monday afternoon. Clayton was additionally charged with failing to report the abuse.
No one was at their residence when Local 10 News reporter Roy Ramos knocked on their door seeking comment Tuesday.
The Florida Department of Children and families took custody of the girl.