A South Dakota couple accused of giving four children methamphetamine as punishment and shocking them with cattle prods has been arrested in Oklahoma.
Lance Long, 36, and Crystallynn Long, 40 are facing 14 counts, including distributing a controlled substance to a minor and abuse or cruelty to a minor, in connection with the case. They both made their initial court appearance on Thursday.
Captain Josh Phillips with the Minnehaha County Sheriff’s Office told KELO the children — a 17-year-old male, 15-year-old female, 13-year-old male, and 11-year-old male — had been abused for at least three years.
The suspects “had been giving several children in the household meth and using a hot-shot cattle prod to get the children to obey commands or if they weren’t listening they’d get zapped by this hot-shot cattle prod,” he said.
According to arrest warrants for the couple obtained by the Argus Leader, detectives spoke with one of the children who mentioned he recently joined the Marine Corps.
The child told his recruitment sergeant about the problems he experienced at home, who in turn phoned one of his relatives. The family member then phone authorities on the matter, which prompted an investigation earlier this month.
Officers then spoke further with the child, who mentioned that his older sibling had been abused by Long. The claims were investigated, but nothing ever happened, so they never again tried to report the abuse because they “were afraid it would make things worse for them,” like it did his sister, the affidavit states.
The children are currently in the custody of child protective services.
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Awful, I hope these hicks get full time. Poor kids.
