WATCH: Facebook Video Shows Parents Allegedly Abusing Disabled Children
An Iowa couple, who are parents to nine adopted children with disabilities between the ages of 16 and 38, were arrested last week after a video recorded last year was released showing them yelling and slapping children.
John Elmer Bell, 55, and Joyce Marie Bell, 57, of Ankeny, Iowa, a city located just outside of the capital of Des Moines, were booked Thursday on felony charges of child endangerment resulting in bodily injury, according to local reports.
In the video, John Bell is seen hitting an autistic boy in the living room and screams, “I will hit you in the f---ing mouth.”
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The video was recorded by Krystal Bell, a 21-year-old adopted daughter of the couple, who had also posted videos on Facebook over the past year.
She provided the video to the Des Moines Register, with the publication reporting that the couple had been the subject of over 70 police incidents over the last decade. The Register also noted that police were told about child abuse videos dating back to March 2016.
According to documents obtained by KCCI, a CBS affiliate in Des Moines, police had responded to the Bell home 68 times and filed 20 reports.
Krystal Bell told WHO-DT, an NBC affiliate in Des Moines, that the Bell home had the nine adopted children and one biological child living in a three-bedroom home. Iowa’s Department of Human Services reportedly removed a 16-year-old boy and a 17-year-old boy from the Bell home after a child abuse report on July 12. The two boys are now in protective care.
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Another adopted daughter, Makayla Bell, 24, had stated that “she was removed permanently from the Bell home at age 17 after she accused Joyce Bell of kicking her in the face repeatedly during an argument,” according to the Register.
“I actually feel happy. I feel relieved a little bit, but then at the same time I feel like we haven't had enough justice yet. They should have a lot more coming to them than what they have right now,” Krystal Bell said to WHO-DT.
The Register provided a timeline of police reports from the Bell family that date back to Aug.4, 2007.
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