Florida children's author, husband plead guilty to abusing and neglecting their 3 kids
Jeanine Santucci
USA TODAY
Published 3:34 p.m. ET Jan. 18, 2025 Updated 3:34 p.m. ET Jan. 18, 2025
Editor’s note: This article contains descriptions of child abuse. If you suspect a child is being abused or neglected, call the Childhelp Hotline at (800) 422-4453.
A Florida children's author and her husband pleaded guilty to abusing and neglecting their three children, leaving one girl hospitalized in critical condition with multiple organ failure.
She was 8 years old, according to local news reports. She weighed just 40 pounds, arrest records show. The children were beaten with a device called a "whacker," locked up, and not allowed to speak to each other.
Jennifer Wolfthal, 45, who wrote a children's book called "A Real Friend," and her husband, 43-year-old Joseph Wolfthal, an engineer at Lockheed Martin, pleaded guilty to three counts of child abuse and three counts of child neglect each earlier this week, according to court records reviewed by USA TODAY.
One of the children "described an existence in which she did not see or talk to anyone other than her parents including her siblings and spent virtually all of her time locked alone in her bedroom," according to a search warrant written by Seminole County Sheriff's Deputy Sean R. Platter. Two of the children also said they were often sent to bed, punished with a bottle of cold water poured over them, and left in that condition overnight.
More:
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2025/01/18/childrens-author-jennifer-wolfthal-child-abuse-neglect/77803444007/
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Children’s author and husband admit to abusing their adopted children: Malnourished kids were spanked until they bled
One of the children was diagnosed with pneumonia during a hospital visit and was found with bruises and open wounds
Graig Graziosi
in Washington, D.C.
Wednesday 15 January 2025 21:49 GMT
A Florida couple — including a woman who authored children's books — has pleaded guilty to abusing their adopted children inclduing spanking them until they bled and making them sleep on wet beds.
Jennifer and Joseph Wolfthal pleaded guilty to aggravated child abuse and neglect of a child with great bodily harm on January 13. The couple was set to go to trial on Monday, but they reached a plea agreement with prosecutors just before the trial began, according to WESH.
Prosecutors agreed to drop three counts of kidnapping brought against the couple in exchange for their plea.
Jennifer Wolfthal — the author of a children’s book titled A Real Friend — is set to be sentenced to 12 years in prison, and her husband faces a 10-year sentence, according to the plea deal. The two faced more than 100 years in prison if convicted.
“This plea and sentencing agreement ensures that the Wolfthals will spend significant time in prison while it protects the already-traumatized victims from the stress of having to testify,” the State Attorney’s office in Florida’s 18th judicial circuit said in a statement reported by PEOPLE. “The State Attorney’s office made sure law enforcement and the children’s new guardian supported this sentence before it agreed to it.”
More:
https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/crime/child-abuse-author-kids-jennfier-joseph-wolfthal-guilty-b2680382.html
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