A Florida City couple was arrested after police said their two young children were severely beaten with extension cords.
Janice Young, 46, and Ashanti Young, 43, were arrested Thursday on two counts each of aggravated child abuse causing great bodily harm, arrest reports said.
According to the arrest reports, the couple's two children, ages 7 and 8, were repeatedly struck with extension cords from Nov. 18 to 29, while they were on Thanksgiving break.
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The abuse was discovered when the children returned to their elementary school in Homestead after the break.
Their school counselor told police that the physical education coach had a child in his class who refused to remove his jacket, the reports said.
The 7-year-old said he had bruises on his arm but when the school nurse checked him out, he had fresh cuts, the reports said.
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His 8-year-old sister told the counselor that their mothers beat them with a white and black cord
The 8-year-old said they were on Thanksgiving break and she was "misbehaving by coloring and drawing," and one mother, Janice Young, "beat her with a white electrical cable against the back of her thighs," and she had trouble sitting down because her legs hurt, the reports said.
She said her mother Janice sometimes uses a cord, shoe or stick to hit her and said "her other mom, Ashanti, hit her sometimes but not as bad as Janice," the reports said.
When she was examined, she had multiple scars on her back and arms and freshly scabbed welts on the back of her legs, the reports said.
The boy said his mother Janice "had beat him with a white extension cord for coloring in one of his books," then put a sock on his arm and told him not to remove it and told him not to remove his jacket or show anyone his injured arm, the reports said.
Investigators found he had scabbed welts on his arm and scars on his leg.
Janice Young claimed the children hit each other which caused the injuries, the reports said.
Ashanti Young claimed she didn't beat her children and didn't know how they would get hurt, the reports said.
Both women were arrested and booked into jail. Attorney information wasn't available.
