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2 weeks ago
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A four-year-old girl was tied up, beaten and shocked with a dog collar in a horrific ordeal of abuse that has landed her father and another woman in prison.
The girl's father Javon Markquez Ingram, 31, and Larissa Duncan, 47, were sentenced to 15 years and 10 years in prison, respectively, this week for the torture of the young girl - who is not named - in their Portland, Oregon home.
The sadistic abuse was discovered in late 2022 when Ingram brought his daughter to the hospital after she suffered seizures, at which point doctors found over 30 injuries across her body and called the police.
Ingram initially told police her wounds were self-inflicted, before shocking evidence was found on his phone and in his home, including footage of torture and a wooden plank with zip ties on it.
After the two were sentenced this week, an attorney for the girl filed a $15 million lawsuit against Oregon's Department of Human Services, alleging the agency failed to investigate several reports of the treatment while it was going on for years.
Inside this home in Portland, Oregon, prosecutors say a young girl was subjected to a years-long ordeal of torture and abuse that saw her father and another woman imprisoned this week
Ingram received custody of the girl in January 2019, when she was two years old, due to her mother's methamphetamine addiction, according to a police affidavit.
Duncan lived with Ingram, and Oregon Live reports that he considered her his mother although they are not related.
When Ingram took his daughter to the Randall Children's Hospital in late 2022 for treatment for seizures, medical staff instantly called police to the hospital.
'Detectives went into the hospital room and were immediately horrified upon seeing her,' a Multnomah County deputy district attorney wrote in a memo.
The memo said the young girl told officials that she would often be restrained with zip ties, chains, blindfolds, gags and duct tape and described being beaten with a belt.
According to reported court documents, the girl said she would be tied up with 'dollar store zip ties and duct tape' and an electric dog collar that would shock her, before being left in a bathroom or shed restrained in a highchair.
It was also found that she had never attended any form of education, was only ever fed food from a blender, and was not bathroom trained.
Police said the young girl was tied up with duct tape and zip ties, fitted with an electric dog collar, and only fed food from a blender. Pictured is a burned-out car on the property
A search warrant was obtained and executed on Ingram's home in the days after the hospital visit, which found further evidence of the abuse.
When questioned by police, Ingram initially tried to claim her injuries were self-inflicted, however medical assessments reportedly found this was 'not plausible.'
Child abuse pediatrician Heather McKeag officially diagnosed the girl's injuries as 'torture', and Ingram was arrested in November 2022.
Detectives found footage of the torture on his phone, leading Ingram to ultimately confess to the horrific ordeal.
According to his arrest affidavit, Ingram told detectives: 'I've done some horrible things in these pictures... I know what I did was (expletive) up.'
He then asked police: 'So what am I being charged with, torture?'
Ingram was indicted on 24 counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment, three counts of first-degree assault, nine counts of third-degree assault. He later pleaded guilty to the charges.
Duncan was also arrested after the discovery of the abuse, with her attorney William Walsh arguing during her sentencing that she had a 'more passive' role.
Walsh claimed that alcohol and prescription drug abuse were factors in her role.
Ingram admitted to police that 'I know what I did was (expletive) up', after he was confronted with evidence of the shocking abuse from his phone
The girl was moved into the care of her grandmother, with an attorney representing her since launching a $15 million lawsuit claiming officials missed opportunities to end the horror ordeal.
Attorney Paul Galm claimed that Human Services caseworkers had received reports that the young girl was exhibiting developmental delays, was spotted with ligature marks on her wrists, was exposed to drug abuse, denied food, and was often confined to a bathroom.
'These reports were ignored by DHS who never investigated' Galm's suit alleged.
In response to The Oregonian, a DHS spokesperson said the state operates a 24-hour hotline for reports of child abuse, but only those that meet the legal criteria for investigation are assigned to a caseworker.
It is unclear if any caseworkers were assigned the case of the young girl, and it is unexplained why such reports of her ordeal would not meet the 'legal criteria.'
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