How Could You? Hall of Shame-Clarissa and Brett Tobiasson UPDATED
This will be an archive of heinous actions by those involved in child welfare, foster care and adoption. We forewarn you that these are deeply disturbing stories that may involve sex abuse, murder, kidnapping and other horrendous actions.
From Eagle Mountain, Utah, “two Eagle Mountain parents were arrested Thursday morning on reports of locking a child in a basement room every night for months without food, water, light or a bathroom.
Deputies with the Utah County Sheriff’s Office responded June 12 to a residence in Eagle Mountain on reports of child abuse. They helped agents with the Department of Child and Family Services remove three children from their parents, Clarissa and Brett Tobiasson, 27 and 31 respectively.
Reports and evidence of neglect was recorded and photographed. Reports state one 6-year-old child was locked in a small room in the basement for up to 12 hours a day. There was no window and the light had been removed. The lock had reportedly been reversed so it locked on the outside, and the door from the basement to the main level could only be locked from the main level.
Reports state the child was one of the Tobiassons’ adopted children.
In fall 2016, a friend stayed in the home and observed the child’s door was tied shut with a rope fastened to another door so the child couldn’t get out, reports state. The friend told police the child was once locked inside the basement room at about 6 p.m. and wasn’t let out until the next morning.
When the child was reportedly locked in the room, he wasn’t given anything to eat or drink. When he was allowed to eat, reports state he was forced by Clarissa Tobiasson to only eat carrots 
for every meal, which give his skin an orange tint. Tobiasson told her friend she forced him to eat only carrots because he didn’t like them, reports state.
When the boy spoke with police, he reportedly told them that he would soil himself while in the locked room because he wasn’t allowed to use the bathroom. He would then hide it in the walls so he didn’t get in trouble.
DCFS worke rs spoke with Clarissa Tobiasson, who told police the child would be sent to bed about 7 p.m. and wasn’t let out until 7 a.m. If he didn’t finish his carrots in a certain time limit, he wasn’t given lunch or dinner, reports state. DCFS workers determined the Tobiassons had been locking the child in the basement for a few months.
Inside the room, DCFS workers found only a mattress and a small slab of carpet. The wall had a hole in it where the child was hiding his soiled clothes, reports state. There were holes in the wall and door and Clarissa Tobiasson said they would frequently hear the child hitting the wall and yelling, reports state.
Clarissa Tobiasson reportedly told police she didn’t know she couldn’t lock her children in their rooms.
On Thursday, both Clarissa and Brett Tobiasson were located, though they declined to speak to police without an attorney present.
Both were booked into Utah County Jail on suspicion of one second-degree felony of child abuse.”
Eagle Mountain couple reportedly abused adopted child, locked him alone in basement nightly
[Herald Extra 8/3/17 by Kurt Hanson]
REFORM Puzzle Piece
Update:“On August 9, the husband and wife were formally charged with one count each of second-degree child abuse.
A newly unsealed search warrant filed in the case offers additional details on the victim’s carrot-based diet.
‘The child was required to eat a bowl or baggy of carrots and would not be given anything else to eat or drink until the carrots were gone,’ the document read. ‘If the carrots were not eaten they would be saved for the next meal and then the next meal and sometimes the next day.’
The warrant goes on to recount how one night, the family ordered pizza but the five-year-old was only allowed to eat carrots. He was given a short time to finish the carrots, with the promise that he would get pizza afterwards, but because he took too long, he was denied the takeout treat.
According to the warrant, first cited by KSL.com, Brett Tobiasson then promised his son he would give him pizza the next day, but because the child soiled his pants, he was told he could not have the pizza.
Following the parents’ arrests, their adopted son was taken to a doctor’s office, where a nurse who examined him noted that he had an ‘orangey’ tint to his skin, apparently caused by an excessive consumption of carrots.
The Daily Herald reported that Clarissa Tobiasson told a friend last year that she forced the boy to eat carrots because she knew he did not like them.
The court documents also revealed that the boy would bump into walls in the dark basement, and that he told officials he was scared to be there because there was a mouse and spiders in there, and the floor of the subterranean room was littered with mouse feces.
When interviewed by police, Mrs Tobiasson reportedly told detectives she did not know she could not lock her children in their rooms.
The child, who is now six years old, was adopted by the Tobiassons along with his biological two-year-old brother. The couple also have their own biological two-month-old baby daughter.
The six-year-old boy is currently being cared for by a grandmother. His younger brother and the Tobiassons’ infant daughter are in the custody of the Division of Child and Family Services.
The Tobiassons are currently out on $10,000 bond each and are due back in court on September 14. “
[Daily Mail 8/24/17 by Snejana Farberov]
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