Report: Former Georgia Tech LB Recardo Wimbush, wife charged with child cruelty

Recardo Wimbush Sr., 33, and Therian Cornelia Wimbush, 37, told investigators they had locked their 13-year-old son in a room in the basement for “disciplinary reasons,” said Cpl. Jake Smith, spokesman for Gwinnett police.

“The victim had been confined to the room for most of the past two years and a lock had been added to the victim’s room in January 2013,” Smith said. “The victim had no access to books, toys, entertainment devices, or his siblings.”

Social workers discovered the boy was being confined to a small room that locked from the outside; it contained a bare box springs and mattress and “a large plastic jar, which was apparently used as a toilet,” Smith said.

The boy was in good health, as were his nine siblings, and there were no other signs of abuse. After a hearing, a judge removed all the children from the house and contacted Gwinnett Police who searched the house the next day, Smith said.

Detectives found that the boy was fed at normal meal times and that the room was kept clean; the parents had added a sheet to the make-shift bed since the visit by the social workers, Smith said.

But detectives don’t believe the boy was being schooled — none of the children attended public school — and was only occasionally let out to use the bathroom, Smith said. The room was dark, with no light bulb in its fixture and the “single window was painted white which let in a small amount of light during daylight hours,” Smith said.