COCOA, Fla. – Two adults have been arrested after a girl came forward to report her “bizarre” abuse last week, according to the Cocoa Police Department.
In an affidavit, police said they were made aware of the alleged abuse last week, when the girl claimed that one of the suspects — identified as Ashley Eldredge, 37 — would force her to drink hot sauce.
The child also told investigators during an interview that Eldredge and the other suspect — identified as Robert Eldredge, 38 — would “whoop” her with objects like a belt or a wooden spoon.
“As to why she was disciplined, she stated that it was because she put ‘ink on the cat’ and that it was only part of an experiment,” the affidavit reads. “As to how many times [REDACTED] struck her, the victim stated ‘15′ times by his hand."
As for the hot sauce, the victim reportedly told police that she was forced to ingest it whenever she was accused of lying, despite the girl being allergic.
“The victim stated that the hot sauce made her stomach hurt and causes her to vomit,” the affidavit continues. “The victim stated that this had occurred approximately ‘10′ times, and she has thrown up about ‘50 percent’ of the time."
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According to police, they also learned that the girl had most recently been disciplined with hot sauce on March 11, as well as struck by both Ashley and Robert Eldredge.
But when police confronted Robert Eldredge over the victim’s bruises, he claimed that the victim tends to self-harm, court records show. However, he said any bruises from a belt were from him.
“According to Robert Eldredge, he had used the belt on the victim as punishment because she ‘wrote the same 14 sentences’ and that he ‘whooped her ass,’” the affidavit notes.
Meanwhile, police reported that Ashley Eldredge admitted to feeding the girl homemade hot sauce as a punishment for lying, acknowledging that the child did vomit the sauce on an occasion.
As such, both Ashley and Robert Eldredge were arrested and now face charges of child abuse.
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