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Sugar Cookie

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The bruised boy shook and had difficulty walking when authorities questioned him in a Knoxville hospital.

A child protective worker and Marion County deputy learned he'd been living in a bedroom wrapped in plastic with little else inside but wet underwear and Pull-Ups training pants.

Born in 2008, the boy said he hadn't been outside since last summer. He gave conflicting reasons for the bruises and thermal injuries on his body that caused him to be hospitalized, a criminal complaint says.

In 2017, the boy and his sister were adopted by their paternal grandparents after lots of interaction with DHS and others in Iowa's child-welfare system.

Jennifer Wooldridge, a Knoxville nurse, and her husband, Rocky Lee Wooldridge, assumed guardianship of the siblings after their mother died in childbirth in 2012, court records show.

The Wooldridges were involved in a custody battle with the children's maternal grandparents until Marion County Judge Martha Mertz approved the adoption. Court records show the boy was the subject of at least two previous child abuse investigations before the adoption was final.

Authorities arrested the stay-at-home husband.

Rocky Wooldridge, 49, now faces one felony neglect charge and one child endangerment charge, an aggravated misdemeanor, in connection with the alleged abuse of the boy.

The boy’s room was covered with plastic and had one blanket and one pillow, with Pull-Ups and wet underwear in the room.

“I briefly spoke to (the boy) who stated he hadn't been outside since summer, then said he got the injuries from sticks," a Marion County deputy wrote. "He initially stated the thermal injuries were from a shower, then stated he spends 20 minutes outside with his dogs in his socked feet."

The criminal complaint said Rocky Wooldridge was the boy's primary caregiver.
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I would not be surprise if the boy had some developmental issues.

The child giving conflicting accounts of how he is treated and no mention of sister in the same condition is very telling.

It breaks my heart that these children are often mistreated and the caregivers are able to turn around and say they were overwhelmed by the child's needs and behaviors.
 
Not sure it if applies here, but I hate it when DCF does a dump & run on grandparents, not informing them of the child’s special needs, a better parenting plan than I’ll give you something to cry about, or even helpful resources in the community.
 
A Knoxville man could spend the next three decades in prison for locking his grandson in his bedroom for weeks.

Rocky Wooldridge faced life in prison if convicted of first-degree kidnapping. Instead, he agreed to plead guilty to two counts of child endangerment and two counts of neglect of a dependent person.

Rocky Wooldridge's plea comes in exchange for his wife Jennifer Wooldridge’s charges being downgraded to one count of child endangerment without injury. Prosecutors have agreed to give her a suspended sentence.
 
Earlier this year an 11-year-old boy was taken from a Knoxville home by Iowa's Department of Human Services following concerns of abuse. His grandfather now faces 30 years in prison while his grandmother avoids time behind bars.

Jennifer Wooldridge, 43, and Rocky Wooldridge, 50, were arrested in May after human services in March reported finding wet underwear and plastic sheeting in the boy's room and injuries consistent with child abuse, according to a criminal complaint.

Jennifer Wooldridge, a Knoxville nurse at the time of her arrest, pleaded down to the charge of child endangerment causing bodily injury. She was sentenced Thursday to three years probation

"Why did you lie? I don't like liars like you and your stupid husband," a victim's advocate read Thursday in court from the 11-year-old's victim impact statement as he sat quietly beside her wearing a small blue tie.

There were many days the Wooldridges didn't treat him well, the boy wrote: Christmas, Easter, Valentine's Day.

"I love you, hate you," he wrote in salutation.

The boy still struggles from the abuse, his foster father said, adding that it's taken countless trips to doctors and therapists to try and undo some of the "horrors" he endured in the Wooldridge's home.
 
I hope the foster family he is with provides him with a permanent and stable family.

It is in the best interest of this boy to continue attending therapy to address his feelings of love and hate towards his grandparents.

He needs to be assured that his feelings are justified and normal.
 
The woman was just as guilty and I hope that she is not allowed to have custody of the children in the home that were not abused.
 
Not sure it if applies here, but I hate it when DCF does a dump & run on grandparents, not informing them of the child’s special needs, a better parenting plan than I’ll give you something to cry about, or even helpful resources in the community.
Definitely NOT a dump and run. The boy was in custody of another family when grandparents FOUGHT for custody.
 
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