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NEWPORT BEACH (CNS) - A father, stepmother and grandmother were all sentenced for torturing a 15-year-old girl in their care in Anaheim.
Louis Hill, the victim's 42-year-old father, Yulonda Parker, the girl's 60-year-old step-grandmother, and Shalonda Hill, the 43-year-old stepmom, were all found guilty in a non-jury trial before Orange County Superior Court Judge Gregg Prickett on Nov. 5 of last year. Delores Porter, a 61-year-old family friend known as ``auntie,'' was also convicted, but she later died and charges against her were dismissed in February.
Louis Hill was sentenced to five years in prison as Prickett found he was a ``passive participant or played a minor role in some of the conduct,'' according to court records. He was given credit for 1,429 days in custody.
Shalonda Hill was sentenced to nine years in prison and was given credit for 1,429 days in custody. Prickett found Hill was a victim herself who suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, so he spared her a life sentence.
Parker, who was sentenced to seven years to life in prison and given credit for the same amount of time behind bars as the other defendants, was deemed by the judge as the ``spiritual authority of the household'' and the ``primary actor who was chiefly responsible for the injuries to the child victim,'' according to court records.
In May, Prickett heard testimony from an expert who described Parker's own horrific childhood with a mother who would ``give her children away'' when they fell out of favor. She was subjected to verbal and physical abuse, according to the doctor's testimony.
In a sentencing brief, prosecutors said Louis Hill had prior convictions for illegal possession of weapons and burglary and Shalonda Hill had prior convictions for burglary, fraud, auto theft and depriving custody of a child. Parker had a prior felony conviction for child abuse, prosecutors said.
Prosecutors said the defendants subjected the victim to repeated assaults that ``escalated from slapping and punching to the use of weapons and physical restraints and deprivation of food.''
The victim sustained broken bones, lacerations, and bruising all over her body as she was beaten with a baseball bat, metal object, a mallet hammer, a knife and needles, prosecutors said.
The four abused the teen, who sustained chipped teeth and a broken nose and had ligature marks on her arms, for six months in 2018, said Kimberly Edds, a spokeswoman for the Orange County District Attorney's Office. The teen was tied to a walker at times and had to be hospitalized, Edds said.
The abuse came to light when she went to a hospital, where she told doctors how she got hurt, Edds said.
Louis Hill was convicted of one count each of felony torture and child abuse, with a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury.
Parker was convicted of one felony count each of torture and child abuse and three counts of assault with a deadly weapon, with a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury.
Shalonda Hill was convicted of one felony count each of torture, child abuse and assault with a deadly weapon, with a sentencing enhancement for inflicting great bodily injury.
Porter was convicted of felony child abuse.