Sheriff Testifies at Michael and Sharen Gravelle Trial about Child Cages
Thanks again to mgraber for this update in the case of Michael and Sharen Gravelle, the beautiful people charged with keeping their 11 special-needs foster kids locked in cages. You know, because God hadn’t been cruel enough to these kids already. This morning, Huron County Sheriff Dick Sutherland took the stand and described why the Gravelle house “didn’t look right” when he stepped inside. Sutherland described the stench of urine that hit him upon entry, and the rabbit-wire enclosures that housed the kids.
But that’s not all! Other witnesses have taken to the stand to report on how Sharen Gravelle would refer to the kids as “monkeys”, and order them back to their cages if they tried to go potty before their “scheduled time”. (That explains the piss stench, eh?) Another witness testified that dad Michael referred to himself as “Moses”. That paints as complete of a picture as you need, doesn’t it? Sharen Gravelle was obviously worn down by caring for these kids, but her husband probably pushed her forward so he could remain cocooned within his Messianic delusion. I’m amazed that these two haven’t turned on one another yet - though I suppose I shouldn’t. Couples naturally bond together when “attacked” from the outside, and dysfunctional couples even more so.
Are the Gravelles “evil people”? On one level, they’re just basket cases - in the husband’s case, narcissistic ones - who let their dysfunction spiral out of control. I can understand them getting themselves into this shit. But when they closed their eyes and their minds to the horror they were inflicting upon their kids? When they shut out reality and convinced themselves they were great parents, the facts notwithstanding? That’s when their hearts hardened, and they crossed the line from “stressed-out parent” to “abuser”.
Tags: adoption, adoptive-children, cages, child-abuse, children, father, foster-children, foster-parents, Gravelle, kids, mother, ohio, parenting, parentsRelated Stories
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3 opinions for Sheriff Testifies at Michael and Sharen Gravelle Trial about Child Cages
maja
Dec 4, 2006 at 1:46 pm
I’m thinking about hoarders. People who collect animals. In the beginning just to care for them but in the end they are incable to care for the numbers of animals they have taken in. These people are hoarders of children.
Teresa DennyWilliams
Dec 12, 2006 at 11:44 pm
I agree with the first poster. Call me a cynical bitch, but I’ve long been suspicious when I hear “heartwarming” stories about people who adopt enormous numbers of children. Especially when they adopt kids from various third-world countries, with different ethnic backgrounds than the adoptive “parents”. Kind of looks more like doll-collecting than opening one’s heart and home to poor little orphans. I did say I was cynical, right?
Mary Ann Morris
Dec 22, 2006 at 9:29 am
How sad. I can’t understand why they would take on so many children and then, when they realized they could not take care of so many, put them into cages and not let them go to the bathroom when they needed to. This is a tragedy.
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