Woman Arrested For Using Stun Gun To Discipline Children As Young As 7

A Florida caregiver faces child abuse charges after the relatives she looked after ratted on her use of a taser-like gun for discipline to school officials.

Letina  Smith, 41, of Kissimmee, made the three children aged seven, eight and nine-years-old sit against the wall as they would in a chair with their arms out, but minus the chair – if they moved they would be zapped, she called it the ‘electric chair,’ officials said.

The abuse was uncovered after one of the children was in trouble in school and became terrified when school administrators said a call home was necessary, WOFL reported.



Cops told WOFL the woman made the young kids sit in that position for one hour, if they moved she’d zap them.
‘(She) explained that the punishment was to get touched with a 'taser,’ said an affidavit cited by the Orlando Sentinel. 

‘The electric chair consists of the child who is in trouble holding themselves… with their back on the wall and their legs forming a chair,’ it continued.
‘They have to stay there for an hour and if they speak or move Letina will come up to them with the electrical weapon, ‘taser,’ and activate and touch them with it.’

The report said the children lived with Ms Smith instead of their mother, the Sentinel noted, but did not give an explanation as to why.

Officials told reporters the pink, rectangle-shaped device emitted an electric charge from two points, but was not as strong as a taser. Investigators did not find any marks on the children.

Ms Smith admitted to having the weapon and holding it menacingly close to the children, but insisted she never actually shocked them, sources told WFTV.
When asked by police how he was disciplined, one of the children said he was put in the ‘electric chair’ as recently as Wednesday.

‘It hurt very much and he was very afraid of it,’ the boy is quoted in the affidavit as saying. ‘(He) advised that the electrical weapon was pink and made a loud clicking noise …and he can see the electricity touch the two points at the end.’

Another of the children said the woman shocked her after he fell asleep in her car, according to the affidavit.
She was booked on child abuse charges and jailed in violation of a previous parole order stemming from a previous fraud case.

Her bail has been set at $3,000.

-Daily Mail