The children were also forced to do pushups and when a child was not able to do one, the child was zapped with the stun gun, deputies said.
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Special victims detectives in Polk County arrested two men and two women on a number of charges in connection with a child abuse case, the sheriff’s office said Monday.
Elizabeth Tarvin, 33, and Veronica Sanchez, 32, who were dating Vazquez and Torres-Morales, admitted to deputies that they knew the stun gun was being used on the children, PCSO said.
Kirshon said he would often see the children playing in the street and that they were not a problem in the mobile home community.
Two of the children were removed from the home by the Florida Department of Children and Families and found to have “patterned bruises and burns” and “two-prong” burns on their buttocks.
The men’s live-in girlfriends were also arrested and accused of allowing the abuse to continue without reporting it, deputies said.
Deputies said Torres originally said that the children had gotten their hands on the stun gun and were shocking each other, but then he told deputies he had lied and that he and Vasquez were using the stun gun on the children.
Investigators found through interviews that nine children, ages 7 through 13, were injured with a stun gun by Vazquez and Torres-Morales as a form of discipline.
Detectives got permission from Veronica Sanchez to check the other children for injuries.
The Polk County Sheriff’s Office said the four adults live in the same home on Skye Place in Lakeland; Vazquez is dating Tarvin, and Torres is dating Sanchez.
Vazquez initially denied using the stun gun on the children, but later admitted that “the children needed to be disciplined and that he used the Taser when they acted out”, investigators said.
Vazquez and Morales have been charged with seven counts of aggravated child abuse.
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The men are each being held on bail set at more than $450,000, and Tarvin’s bail was set at $544,000. The other three are being held on bonds of $455,000 or more.
