Married Couple Indicted on Child Endangering Charges for Torturing and Abusing 5 Adopted Children
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: June 25, 2024
Clermont County Prosecuting Attorney Mark J. Tekulve announces the indictment of Matthew Robert Edmonson and Charles Robert Edmonson, on 5 counts of Child Endangering, felonies of the third degree, for torturing and cruelly abusing their 5 adopted children. If convicted of all counts, the mom and dad face up to 18 years in prison.
The 5 children, all biological siblings, were originally brought to this married couple as foster children, with each eventually being adopted by the pair. The children have been in and out of the hospital for various reasons, such as bruising, bleach burns, potential internal bleeding, and failure to thrive, all of which were explained away by mother, Matthew, and father, Charles. These 5 boys were born with many medical issues, and instead of being properly nurtured and cared for, they were traumatized, neglected, and abused.
After the relentless efforts made by both the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office and the Clermont County Children’s Protective Services in attempts to protect these 5 children, damning evidence was ultimately revealed. Detective Ross, of the CCSO, was vital in investigating and securing a conviction against Charles Edmonson for engaging in sexual relations with a different adopted son, an adult at the time, who had been groomed early on from a young age. As a result of the arrest, Detective Ross recovered numerous videos of the defendants treating these beloved special needs children worse than prisoners of war in their own home. In videos too graphic to describe, it is very clear that these children were tortured, abused, and traumatized on a nearly daily basis.
“The videos of these undernourished and naked children huddled up in a locked room in the basement, on the stone-cold basement floor like a pile of puppies trying to stay together to keep warm, are nothing short of gut-wrenching. These two are unfit to be parents and I am grateful to those who have worked tirelessly to make sure they will not be. Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time and will not be the last time that my office has had to seek indictment for people like this who pretend to be ‘parents’.” Prosecuting Attorney Mark J. Tekulve.
Matthew Robert Edmonson d.o.b. 12/14/1974
Charles Robert Edmonson d.o.b. 11/26/1960
*Mugshots courtesy of the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office*