Father faces child cruelty charges for teen's punishment
Paul Crawley, WXIA
DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. – Police arrested a Douglasville father on child cruelty charges after the man punished his 16-year-old son by making him carry a 23-pound landscape stone for several miles.
Charlie Mayes, a 40-year-old military veteran with no criminal record, told police he used military-style punishment because his son watched too many videos and didn't do his chores and school work. Douglasville Police charged Mayes with first-degree child cruelty.
"This was done multiple times over a three-day period, sometimes as early as 3 o'clock in the morning," Police Sgt. Todd Garner told 11Alive on Tuesday.
Garner said the boy, who is only 4'2" tall, was also punished in-between the 3-mile hikes.
"In between that time, he was at home having to move rocks and stuff from one side of the back yard to the other and then being taken right back out to the same location and dropped off and made to walk back again," Sgt. Garner added.
The boy's trek would begin on Kings Highway and end at the family's home in the Fairways subdivision.
A pizza delivery driver alerted police to the teen's punishment walks, one of which was captured in the background of a police dash cam video during an unrelated traffic stop.
Douglasville police have yet to make the video available, but say the father freely admitted what happened.
"He did not feel that this was inappropriate at all and neither did his wife," Sgt. Garner said.
A woman who answered the door at the family's home told 11Alive they have no comment.
Meanwhile police alerted DFCS about the case and Mayes got out of jail on $3,500 bond Memorial Day.
A judge ordered the father to get family counseling.
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