The beige two-story houses that line Helena Drive are the epitome of quiet, Southern California suburbia, however residents had been shocked just lately after they discovered of horrific allegations towards some longtime Victorville neighbors.
Amid the block’s plastic swimming pools, basketball hoops and youngsters’s bicycles, a pair and their daughter have been accused of torturing and abusing six youngsters — some for a few years.
The San Bernardino County district lawyer’s workplace has charged Kenneth and Tina Key, each 60 years outdated, and Katlynn Key, 23, with six counts of torture and one depend of kid abuse beneath circumstances more likely to trigger nice bodily damage or loss of life, in keeping with courtroom paperwork.
Prosecutors stated the adults tortured the youngsters, beating them every day, depriving them of meals and strangling them to the purpose of passing out. The alleged abuse towards among the youngsters went on for over a decade, in keeping with the charging paperwork.
“We don’t know what goes on in somebody’s house. It simply hurts to listen to,” stated a shocked next-door neighbor, Jose Martinez. “They might have come to us for assist in the event that they wanted it.”
On a current morning, a lone minivan sat within the driveway outdoors the Keys’ house. A knock on the door went unanswered.
Martinez stated the youngsters had been common fixtures outdoors their house on this Excessive Desert neighborhood.
“They performed outdoors on a regular basis. There was by no means something that gave us fear,” Martinez stated. “They had been only a regular household.”
The kids helped Martinez put up his Christmas decorations and sometimes took his trash cans to the curb. When he was working as a pizza supply driver, he would generally give the youngsters pizza. They appeared comfortable and well-mannered, generally speaking with him about their homework and lessons.
The kids on the house ranged in age from 5 to 16, San Bernardino County Sheriff’s Division officers introduced in a information launch.
Kenneth Key labored as a safety guard and sometimes talked about disciplining the youngsters by giving them chores, however he by no means talked about bodily hurting them, Martinez stated.
“He would ask me if my yard wanted any weeds eliminated or something like that,” Martinez stated.
Initially, authorities recognized the youngsters as within the care of foster mother and father, however the San Bernardino County district lawyer’s workplace later clarified that they had been authorized guardians.
The kids had been faraway from the house on Feb. 13 after one of many teenage victims walked to a close-by Stater Bros. Grocery store and requested for somebody to contact the police, San Bernardino Dist. Atty. Jason Anderson instructed the information outlet the San Bernardino Solar. A number of the youngsters wrote of the alleged abuse in journals, Anderson stated.
Neighbors stated the youngsters weren’t restricted from leaving the Keys’ house and sometimes interacted with their neighbors.
After the youngsters had been faraway from the house, Kenneth Key requested his neighbors to put in writing letters of assist that might discuss his character as a supplier. A number of neighbors did write these letters, in keeping with residents on Helena Drive.
“He was the kind of neighbor who would take the lead when there was unlawful drug customers on the street,” stated one neighbor who declined to provide their title. Kenneth Key would name the police when somebody suspicious was strolling by means of the neighborhood or he would confront them himself, the neighbor stated.
Now all three grownup members of the Key house are being held in in a county jail. They pleaded not responsible to the costs on Thursday and are anticipated again in courtroom on Tuesday.
Prosecutors have revealed little concerning the alleged abuse and the circumstances surrounding the youngsters’s time on the house. Investigators with the Sheriff’s Crimes Towards Youngsters unit launched their investigation in February, and the Keys had been arrested Might 12.
There have been no stories of abuse previous to the beginning of the investigation, sheriff’s spokesperson Gloria Orejel stated.
Anybody with details about the case can contact Det. Katie Merrill of the Specialised Investigations Division at (909) 890-4904. Nameless ideas might be made with the We-Tip Hotline at (800) 78-CRIME (27463) or at www.wetip.com.
