14 DAY TRIAL // A woman from Salt Lake City is facing child abuse charges for disciplining her child by pouring hot sauce in his eyes.
38-year-old Robin Willette Rumsey has allegedly punished her 14-year-old son by duct-taping him, forcing him to smoke pot and throwing Tabasco sauce at his eyes.
Her friend, 33-year-old Krista Jean Miller has also been accused for participating in the abuse that has lasted for over two years.
On one occasion, "[he was] held by the women physically and (they) put a glass pipe in his mouth telling him to inhale," West Valley Police Sgt. Jason Hauer describes.
The Tabasco sauce punishment was reportedly received by Rumsey's son when he broke a glass dish. Other disciplining methods used by his mother and her friend include "pouring alcohol over his face and mouth, prying his mouth open" and forcing him to drink it.
The duct taping allowed them to carry him down the stairs to the basement, without him struggling. He was left there, in the dark, for 90 minutes, all by himself.
According to KSL, the two women have been living in the house of Miller's foster mother in a Salt Lake City suburb. Marsha Christensen claims that allegations against her daughter are made up.
"No, she was not raised this way," she tells reporters, hinting to the accusations aiding the boy's father in a custody case.
However, Utah state court records reveal that she filed to have her daughter and her housemate evicted in January. On Monday, she moved back into her residence, which she had left a year ago due to verbal abuse by Miller's husband.
Apart from being charged with abuse, the pair are facing four counts each of child endangerment and two counts of dealing in harmful materials to a minor.