A four-year-old girl was tied up, beaten and given an electric shock with a dog collar in a horrific experience of abuse that landed her father and another woman in jail.
The girl’s father, Javon Markquez Ingram, 31, and Larissa Duncan, 47, were sentenced this week to 15 and 10 years in prison, respectively, for torturing the young girl – who has not been named – in their Portland, Oregon, home.
The sadistic abuse was discovered in late 2022 when Ingram took his daughter to the hospital after she began suffering from seizures. Doctors then discovered more than 30 injuries to her body and called police.
Ingram initially told police she had harmed herself, but shocking evidence was then found on his phone and in his home, including footage of torture and a wooden board with cable ties attached to it.
After the pair were sentenced this week, an attorney for the girl filed a $15 million lawsuit against the Oregon Department of Human Services, alleging the agency failed to investigate multiple reports of the treatment that had been ongoing for years.
In this Portland, Oregon, home, prosecutors say a young girl was subjected to years of torture and abuse, leading her father and another woman to be locked up this week
Ingram was granted custody of the girl in January 2019, when she was 2 years old, due to her mother’s methamphetamine addiction, according to a police affidavit.
Duncan lived with Ingram and Oregon Alive reports that he considered her his mother, even though they are not related.
When Ingram took his daughter to Randall Children’s Hospital in late 2022 for treatment of seizures, medical staff immediately called police to the hospital.
“Detectives went to the hospital room and were immediately shocked when they saw her,” a Multnomah County deputy district attorney wrote in a memo.
The memo states that the young girl told authorities that she was frequently restrained with zip ties, chains, blindfolds, gags and duct tape, and she also described being beaten with a belt.
According to court documents, the girl would be tied up with “dollar store zip ties and duct tape” and fitted with an electric dog collar that would shock her, then left in a high chair in the bathroom or shed.
It also turned out that she had never received any form of education, was only fed food from a blender and was not toilet trained.
According to police, the young girl was bound with duct tape and zip ties, had an electric dog collar on and was only fed from a blender. The photo shows a burned-out car on the property
In the days following the hospital visit, a search warrant was executed at Ingram’s home, where further evidence of the abuse was found.
When questioned by police, Ingram initially claimed she had inflicted her injuries on herself, but medical examinations determined this was “not plausible.”
Pediatrician Heather McKeag, who specializes in child abuse, officially diagnosed the girl’s injuries as “torture” and Ingram was arrested in November 2022.
Detectives found footage of the torture on his phone, leading Ingram to eventually confess to the horrific incident.
According to his arrest affidavit, Ingram told detectives, “I did some horrible things in these pictures… I know what I did (expletive) was bullshit.”
He then asked the police, “What am I accused of? Torture?”
Ingram was charged with 24 counts of first-degree assault, three counts of first-degree assault, nine counts of third-degree assault. He later pleaded guilty to the charges.
Duncan was also arrested after the abuse was discovered. Her attorney William Walsh argued during her sentencing that she had a “more passive” role.
Walsh claimed that alcohol and drug abuse played a role in her role.
Ingram admitted to police that “I know what I did was (expletive)” after being confronted with evidence of the shocking abuse on his phone
The girl was entrusted to the care of her grandmother. She was represented by a lawyer who filed a $15 million lawsuit. The lawyer claims that authorities missed opportunities to put an end to the terrible situation.
Attorney Paul Galm alleged that Human Services caseworkers received reports indicating that the young girl had developmental delays, scars on her wrists, drug use, was deprived of food and was frequently locked in the bathroom.
“These reports were ignored by DHS and never investigated,” Galms’ complaint said.
In response to The Oregonian, a DHS spokesperson said the state has a 24-hour hotline for reports of child abuse, but only reports that meet legal criteria for investigation are assigned to a social worker.
It is unclear whether social workers have been assigned to the young girl’s case, nor is it clear why such accounts of her ordeal would not meet “legal criteria.”