In Portland, Oregon 31-year-old father, Javon Marquez Ingram, and a 47-year-old woman, Larissa Duncan sentenced for torturing a 4-year-old girl
A horrific case of child abuse in Portland, Oregon, has led to the imprisonment of a 31-year-old father, Javon Marquez Ingram, and a 47-year-old woman, Larissa Duncan, for the brutal treatment of a four-year-old girl.
The abuse was discovered in late 2022 when Ingram took his daughter to the hospital due to seizures. Medical staff were alarmed to find over 30 injuries on the girl's body and immediately alerted the authorities.
Ingram initially claimed the injuries were self-inflicted, but police found damning evidence in his home and on his phone, including videos of the abuse and a wooden plank with zip ties.
Ingram and Duncan were sentenced this week, with Ingram receiving 15 years in prison and Duncan 10 years. Duncan, who lived with Ingram and was regarded by him as a mother figure despite their lack of biological relation, was said to have played a "more passive" role in the abuse, according to her attorney, William Walsh. Walsh argued that her involvement was influenced by alcohol and prescription drug abuse.
The girl was tied up, blindfolded, gagged, and beaten with a belt. She was also shocked with an electric dog collar and left restrained in accessing a bathroom or a shed.
The child, who had never attended school and was not toilet trained, was fed only blended food. When detectives arrived at the hospital, they were immediately horrified by the girl's condition, as detailed by a Multnomah County deputy district attorney in a memo. The girl described her frequent abuse, including being restrained with "dollar store zip ties and duct tape."
Ingram was arrested in November 2022 after detectives found video evidence of the torture on his phone, leading to his eventual confession. He admitted to committing "horrible things" and acknowledged the severity of his actions.
He was indicted on 24 counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment, three counts of first-degree assault, and nine counts of third-degree assault, to which he later pleaded guilty.
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Following the sentencing, an attorney representing the girl filed a $15 million lawsuit against Oregon's Department of Human Services (DHS). The lawsuit alleges that DHS failed to investigate multiple reports of the girl's mistreatment over the years, including reports of developmental delays, ligature marks, exposure to drug abuse, and confinement to a bathroom.
Attorney Paul Galm, who is handling the case, claims that DHS caseworkers ignored these reports and did not investigate, allowing the abuse to continue.
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A spokesperson for DHS responded to The Oregonian, stating that the state operates a 24-hour hotline for reporting child abuse, but only cases meeting specific legal criteria are assigned to a caseworker. It remains unclear if any caseworkers were assigned to this young girl's case or why the reports of her suffering did not meet the necessary criteria for investigation.
The girl is now in the care of her grandmother, while the lawsuit against DHS seeks accountability for the agency's alleged failure to protect her from the prolonged and severe abuse she endured.