GLOUCESTER TOWNSHIP, NJ - Authorities have confirmed that a couple has been arrested and charged after an 18-year-old escaped their home, saying she was forced to live in a dog crate for a year and given a bucket to use as a bathroom. The victim also said she was severely abused over a seven-year span.
According to NBC News, the suspects have been identified as 38-year-old Brenda Spencer and 41-year-old Brandon Mosley. On Monday, May 12th, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office announced that both have been charged with kidnapping. Mosley is facing additional counts of sexual assault.
Prosecutors said that the 18-year-old female is the daughter of Spencer and the step-daughter of Mosley. She escaped the home on May 8th with the help of a neighbor. The abuse was then reported to police on Saturday, May 10th. The victim told police that Spencer and Mosley had been abusing her since 2018.
Authorities said that around that time, she was removed from school when she was in the sixth grade "at Spencer's discretion and confined to her home". The victim said that shortly after being pulled from school, she was "forced to live in a dog crate for approximately one year and was let out periodically." Later, she was forced to live in a padlocked bathroom and was chained up.
She told police she would be let out of the bathroom when family visited the home and at other times she said she lived in a bare room with a bucket to use as a toilet. She told authorities that the room had an alarm system that would "alert Spencer and Mosley if she tried to leave." She told police she was beaten with a belt and sexually abused by Mosley.
On Wednesday, May 14th, Gloucester Township Police Chief David Harkins said that it was "one of the most despicable cases we've run across". He said that police responded on May 8th to a Wawa and met with the teen. They took her statement where she described the situation as a domestic violence case, but at the time she did not disclose the full scope of the abuse.
Harkins said she was offered domestic violence services, which she declined at the time and then on Saturday, police were called again and that is when the full story came out.
Detectives searched the home and found the victim lived in "squalid conditions" crammed with numerous Great Dane large dogs, chinchillas, and other animals. Harkins said police had no indication about child abuse going on at the home, but had some animal complaints in the past.
Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay said, "Anyone who's been confined for a period of seven years, held in these conditions, living in squalid filth, is going to be damaged psychologically, physically, emotionally, mentally, and as you also can appreciate, when it comes to cases involving child endangerment and child abuse an sexual assault, confidentiality to protect the victims is paramount. So, we're limited in all the details."
Spencer and Mosley were both charged with kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, five counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child — abuse/neglect, criminal restraint, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Mosley was further charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child — sexual contact. Both have been booked into the Camden County Correctional Facility pending detention hearings.
According to NBC News, the suspects have been identified as 38-year-old Brenda Spencer and 41-year-old Brandon Mosley. On Monday, May 12th, the Camden County Prosecutor's Office announced that both have been charged with kidnapping. Mosley is facing additional counts of sexual assault.
Prosecutors said that the 18-year-old female is the daughter of Spencer and the step-daughter of Mosley. She escaped the home on May 8th with the help of a neighbor. The abuse was then reported to police on Saturday, May 10th. The victim told police that Spencer and Mosley had been abusing her since 2018.
Authorities said that around that time, she was removed from school when she was in the sixth grade "at Spencer's discretion and confined to her home". The victim said that shortly after being pulled from school, she was "forced to live in a dog crate for approximately one year and was let out periodically." Later, she was forced to live in a padlocked bathroom and was chained up.
She told police she would be let out of the bathroom when family visited the home and at other times she said she lived in a bare room with a bucket to use as a toilet. She told authorities that the room had an alarm system that would "alert Spencer and Mosley if she tried to leave." She told police she was beaten with a belt and sexually abused by Mosley.
On Wednesday, May 14th, Gloucester Township Police Chief David Harkins said that it was "one of the most despicable cases we've run across". He said that police responded on May 8th to a Wawa and met with the teen. They took her statement where she described the situation as a domestic violence case, but at the time she did not disclose the full scope of the abuse.
Harkins said she was offered domestic violence services, which she declined at the time and then on Saturday, police were called again and that is when the full story came out.
Detectives searched the home and found the victim lived in "squalid conditions" crammed with numerous Great Dane large dogs, chinchillas, and other animals. Harkins said police had no indication about child abuse going on at the home, but had some animal complaints in the past.
Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay said, "Anyone who's been confined for a period of seven years, held in these conditions, living in squalid filth, is going to be damaged psychologically, physically, emotionally, mentally, and as you also can appreciate, when it comes to cases involving child endangerment and child abuse an sexual assault, confidentiality to protect the victims is paramount. So, we're limited in all the details."
Spencer and Mosley were both charged with kidnapping, conspiracy to commit kidnapping, five counts of aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child — abuse/neglect, criminal restraint, aggravated assault with a deadly weapon, possession of a weapon for an unlawful purpose, and unlawful possession of a weapon.
Mosley was further charged with two counts of first-degree aggravated sexual assault, two counts of second-degree sexual assault, and one count of endangering the welfare of a child — sexual contact. Both have been booked into the Camden County Correctional Facility pending detention hearings.
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