Three New Jersey women are arrested for child cruelty after 13-year-old girl is found wearing a canine SHOCK COLLAR by her neighbor who called 911: Child said she has been forced to wear it since fourth grade as a form of punishment
- Kelly, 43; Rachel, 20, and Rebecca Mennig, 18, were arrested and charged with aggravated assault, child abuse and neglect
- The 13-year-old girl was found waring a shock collar and was placed in foster care
- The women also allegedly starved her of food and deprived her of adequate clothing
- Police could see marks on the girl’s neck left by he collar
- The young teen fled to a neighbor’s house and gave the woman her collar, which was still vibrating
- The women also allegedly forced the girl to shoplift for them
Three New Jersey women allegedly punished a 13-year-old girl by forcing her to wear an electric shock dog collar to discipline the child, beginning when she was nine years old, according to arrest warrants filed by the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office.
Kelly, 43; Rachel, 20, and Rebecca Mennig, 18, were arrested on March 1, and charged with child abuse for allegedly torturing the young teen by forcing her to wear the dog collar and zapping her when she was bad.
They are also accused of starving the girl and forcing her to shoplift for the women.
According to an arrest affidavit release by the Camden County Prosecutor, the 13-year-old, whom they only identified with the initials ‘I.D.,’ said that Rachel Mennig first put the collar around her neck when she was nine years old and in the fourth grade.
Prosecutors asked that the relationship between the women not be disclosed to protect the identity of the child.
The abuse was discovered when the girl fled to neighbor Karen Villec’s house, The Daily Beast reported, and knocked on the door, begging for help.
Kelly Mennig, 43, pictured, was arrested for allegedly putting a shock collar on a 13-year-old child
Rachel Mennig, 20, will appear in court on Friday to face charges that she put a dog shock collar on a child
Rebecca Mennig, 18, taking a selfie, is accused of forcing the girl to shoplift for her
‘My doorbell’s ringing frantically and I open the door and [she] says, ”Help me! Help me! Help me! They’re shocking me!” And because I’m confused, I’m seeing the dog collar, she’s putting it in my hand,’ Villec told NBC News Philadelphia.
‘And I said, ”Is your dog lost?” And she goes, ”No! No! They’re shocking me!” Shows the marks on her neck.’
Villec told the news channel that the collar was still vibrating in her hand. The neighbor called the police and the girl was taken to the Jefferson hospital for evaluation.
Police said that marks from the shock collar were visible on the child’s neck.
‘I couldn’t fathom,’ Villec told reporters. ‘You know, who puts a dog collar, first of all, who puts it on their dog? Let alone on a child?’
Rachel Mennig ‘put the collar around her neck and shocked her multiple times, and has done this in the past,’ according to Stratford Police.
The other women, Kelly and Rebecca Mennig, also allegedly put the collar around her neck as ‘a form of punishment’ and force her to shoplift for them, police said. They also starved the girl, depriving her ‘of the appropriate amounts of food and clothing amenities.’
‘I can imagine her getting starved to death,’ Villec told NBC News. ‘But all the other people are overweight in the house. So how do you like that?’
Rebecca Mennig, 18, pictured here, was charged with aggravated assault, child abuse and neglect
Rachel Mennig allegedly first put the collar on the young girl when she was in the fourth grade as a form of punishment
Kelly Mennig, 43, seen here, allegedly used the dog shock collar to discipline the 13-year-old when she was bad
Rachel Mennig denied the abuse, but another person living in the household corroborated the girl’s account, according to police.
The Mennigs face charges of aggravated assault, child abuse and neglect, and are being held at the Camden County Jail.
Lawyers for the women could not be immediately located.
The 13-year-old, meanwhile, was put in the care of a local foster family.
Villec told the Daily Beast that the girl went to school on Monday.
‘I was happy to hear that,’ she said, calling the family ‘trash.’
‘We all feel bad that nobody in the neighborhood knew about this,’ Villec told the Daily Beast.
‘Everybody has secrets. And kids are really good at keeping secrets, because they’re afraid.’
The arrest warrant for Kelly Mennig, like those of Rachel and Rebecca Mennig, tells of years long child abuse, neglect and torture of a 13-year-old girl, beginning when the child was nine
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