Grandfather Gained Custody Of "Dirty, Foul Smelling" Grandson After His Son No Longer Wanted To Take Care Of The 5YO

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35-year-old Colleen Cassidy and 29-year-old Charles Smitley V are charged with what Monessen police are calling a disturbing case of child abuse.

Monessen Police Lt. Aaron Thompson said the department was first alerted in April by Pennsylvania State Police troopers in Uniontown after Smitley's father brought his 5-year-old grandson to the hospital for bruising.

Court records said he recently gained custody from Smitley, who said "he no longer [wanted] to care for the child." From October until that time, the child had been living with Smitley, Cassidy and Cassidy's 11-year-old son.

When the grandfather took the child in, the child was dirty and "had a foul odor," according to court documents. On a trip to McDonald's, the boy was only interested in eating, "complained about his stomach hurting and was observed to be walking in pain," court records said.

After washing him in a bathtub, his grandfather allegedly found several bruises on the boy's legs and butt.

"They saw the extent of the injuries, and that's when they immediately took him to Uniontown Hospital," Thompson said.

Officials said the child was then transported to West Virginia University Ruby Memorial Hospital, where a nurse shared with police that the child "appeared to be emaciated." They also said the child told them Cassidy and his dad "had spanked him with a white paddle… every day" and that they made him eat his own waste.

"He revealed that he was forced to eat feces, that he was not being fed properly, that he had been tied down in a chair previously by his father's girlfriend," Thompson said.

Investigators describe that the boy said the two of them would lock him in the basement bathroom to sleep "with no blankets or padding," and Cassidy's 11-year-old told police he found the child "in a closet with his hands taped together with duct tape." The 11-year-old said he was never hurt.

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Pittsburgh-area man and girlfriend accused of abusing 5-year-old boy, locking him in basement

A man and his girlfriend are charged with what Monessen police are calling a disturbing case of child abuse.

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