HENRICO COUNTY, Va. (WRIC) — A man in the Glen Allen area of Henrico County has been sentenced to 13 years in prison for physically abusing and neglecting a then 6-year-old child.
Joshua Torres was sentenced on Friday, Dec. 1, for three counts of malicious wounding, two counts of child abuse with serious injury and cruelty with injury to a child.
Commonwealth attorneys identified Torres as the child’s acting stepfather.
According to the case summary of facts provided by the Henrico Commonwealth’s Attorney’s Office, the Henrico County Division of Police and Child Protective Services (CPS) responded to a CPS case alert at an apartment on Corum Drive on Sept. 23, 2021.
According to the alert, Torres would duct tape the child to a chair in a closet to allow himself and the child’s mother to go out for the evening. Allegations of physical abuse and neglect were also made.
Upon further investigation, CPS investigators along with Henrico Special Victims Unit (SVU) detectives observed signs of child abuse, finding bruising and markings on the 6-year-old’s body, they were also visibly thin. Duct tape was found on the walls of the child’s bedroom but the mother denied any knowledge of the duct tape.
The child was then admitted to Virginia Commonwealth University Hospital for observation. Attorneys say health professionals were immediately able to determine the victim had signs of chronic abuse with marks all over their body in various stages of healing — many of which were patterned.
Witnesses who were questioned told investigators they would see Torres beating the child with a telephone charging cord with such force that it would leave marks.
The child’s mother confirmed Torres beat the juvenile with a charging cord, whipped them on their bare buttocks with a belt and shot them three times with a BB gun, causing injury to their bottom, foot and chest.
Healing wounds that were believed to be of the result cigarette burns were confirmed by the mother to be wounds from the BB gun shots.
Officials confirm the mother provided relevant time periods for the incidents.
Investigators also interviewed the child, who provided specific and detailed descriptions of the incidents.
The child said Torres shot them at least three different times and they were whipped with a charging cord until they bled. The child also stated Torres ordered his sister — the child’s aunt — to pepper spray the child in the face and denied them access to medical care afterward.
The child also confirmed Torres withheld food and put hot sauce on their eyes as a form of punishment — which was said to have happened at least five to ten times. The child’s mother said when she saw that her child could not breathe or speak due to Torres choking them, she tried to intervene but Torres did not permit her to do so.
The child confirmed they were duct taped to a chair in a closet. They explained that Torres would place their arms through the arms of the chair and duct tape their hands and feet together so they could not escape.
The child says this happened more than five to ten times and “it was hurting so bad I couldn’t take it anymore.” As a result of being left in the closet for so long, the child would urinate and defecate on themself.
The minor’s final complaint was an incident where they said Torres lost his temper and slapped them with excessive force. The slap forced the child’s eye to be slammed into a surface and split the skin over the eye open — which left a blood puddle. Torres is said to have told the mother the eye injury was because the child fell off a counter.
The child is now 9 years old.
Attorneys say the high end of sentencing guidelines was eight years and three months, which the presiding judge deemed, “wholly inadequate” when imposing the sentence.
