A Florida children's book author and her husband will spend at least a decade behind bars for the horrific abuse and neglect of their three adoptive children.
Jennifer Wolfthal, 45, and her husband Joseph Wolfthal, 43, pleaded guilty on Monday to aggravated child abuse and neglect with great bodily harm, and will serve 12 years and 10 years, respectively, following a plea agreement.
The years-long campaign of abuse included beating the children with a 'whacker', forcing them to write lines, and feeding them only a mixture of cereal and vegetable puree.
The couple's crimes were uncovered on New Year's Day in 2021 after Joseph brought the couple's adopted eight-year-old daughter to hospital in 'critically ill' condition.
She was found to have been suffering a litany of medical emergencies including kidney and liver failure, sepsis, a staph infection, open infected wounds on both legs and pneumonia in both lungs.
A probable cause affidavit reported by Law and Crime added that she suffered sores on her leg that were infected and had ruptured, had a chipped tooth, two black eyes and weighed just 40lbs.
In the course of the investigation, police wrote they uncovered evidence of abuse targeting not only the eight-year-old victim, but also the Wolfthal couple's two other adopted children: a nine-year-old boy and an 11-year-old girl.
Following their plea agreement this week, prosecutors said in a statement that the children are now living with another family, and the Wolfthal couple 'will spend significant time in prison while it protects the already-traumatized victims from the stress of having to testify.'
Jennifer Wolfthal, 45, a Florida children's book author, and her husband will spend at least a decade behind bars for the horrific abuse and neglect of their three adoptive children after pleading guilty this week
Jonathan Wolfthal (pictured) was sentenced to 10 years and his wife to 12 years, with the couple's crimes uncovered on New Year's Day in 2021 after Joseph brought their adopted eight-year-old daughter to hospital in 'critically ill' condition
The couple's arrest three years ago shocked their Florida community as the investigation uncovered sickening details of the couple's abuse.
Joseph Wolfthal initially tried to claim the daughter he took to hospital sustained her injuries by falling over and 'brushing her teeth too hard', which detectives quickly dismissed due to her age and condition.
When deputies with the Seminole County Sheriff's Office arrived at the couple's home, they found two other severely malnourished children, and discovered their bedrooms had locks from the outside.
The children went on to describe regular, near-daily beatings at the hands of their adoptive parents, including the use of a 'whacker' to 'deliver corporal punishment.'
They said they would often be denied any food, and when they were allowed to eat the couple would only feed them a mixture of cereal flakes, water and vegetable puree.
A search of the home found evidence of the couple forcing the children to write out the same humiliating phrases thousands of times.
In one example, they found over 1,100 written paragraphs saying: 'My body stays flat on the bed at all times. I was never given permission to move or say anything else. Now I get to write about this along with everything else. I'm a fool.'
Police observed that the doorknobs on the children's bedrooms inside the family's home in Casselberry, Florida (pictured), were installed with the locking mechanism on the outside
Detectives uncovered sickening details of the couple's abuse, including beating the children with a 'whacker', forcing them to write the same phrases thousands of times, and feeding them only a mixture of cereal and vegetable puree
In interviews, one of the girls told officers that her adoptive parents would constantly tell her she 'couldn't stop sinning.'
The 11-year-old girl told police she would be disciplined for not going to the bathroom at the 'proper' times, for not performing her exercises, and refusing to eat the vegetable puree and cereal mix.
'The [girl] said that there were days that she was fed twice and sometimes she didn't eat her first meal until '3 o'clock in the afternoon,'' police wrote in the affidavit.
The 11-year-old girl and nine-year-old boy both told police that every night they would have cold water poured over them while they lay in bed as punishment, stated the report.
According to the girl, she had not interacted with her siblings or any adults other than her parents in several years, and she 'tried to keep track of the days and months by counting in her head,' the report read.
She also claimed that she had not taken a bath in months, and that she would be denied bandages for her open wounds.
Just months before her 2021 arrest, Jennifer published a children's book titled A Real Friend, which tells the story of two best friends who get into a fight
Officers observed that the doorknobs on the children's bedrooms were installed with the locking mechanism on the outside.
They said it was evident from talking to the children that 'they were scared to leave their rooms even at night to use the bathroom.
This resulted in them 'peeing their pants' and sleep in it on an almost daily basis rather than risk leaving their rooms or communicating with each other,' the reported revealed.
Jennifer became known as a children's author, and published a book titled 'A Real Friend' just months before her arrest.
According to her biography posted on Amazon.com, Jennifer has a degree in elementary education from University of Central Florida and spent eight years teaching fourth grade in public school.
'She continued her teaching journey through homeschooling her own children,' according to the post.
In the aftermath of Jennifer's arrest in 2021, her publisher Clavis Publishing released a statement saying it will cease further commercialization of her book.
'At Clavis, we believe that children are beautiful and deserve our utmost respect and care,' the statement read.
'That is why we publish books to enrich their lives and help them grow up learning to know themselves, how to interact with others in a good way and how the world works.
'We were made aware of horrific news regarding one-time, Clavis' author Jennifer Wolfthal's arrest and strongly condemn child abuse, abandonment and neglect, today and always. We will do what's within our power to cease commercialization of her book further.'
