As a parent, there are times when you desperately want to lock the door and throw yourself into the most mindless activity you can find -- but, chances are, you don't actually go through with this fantasy. Or you do it a few times, but only after your children are in bed or at school.
But an unemployed couple in California will spend a few years behind bars after pleading guilty to child abuse charges for neglecting the needs of a 5-year-old and 10-year-old while they spent entire days playing the online video game World of Warcraft.
Lester and Petra Huffmire, both 42, kept the two girls living with them in a filthy mobile home, according to police. Their house was reportedly covered in cobwebs and mold, had broken toilets, and garbage and feces out in the open. Cops even found a pile of used condoms under a stuffed teddy bear.
Horrific.
And while the man and woman, neither of whom worked, busied themselves playing the video game, they apparently prevented the girls from attending school and instead made them stay locked in their trailer.
This nightmare went on from 2010 until 2013, according to police. Finally, a neighbor tipped cops off to what was going on, and police were able to gain entry into their home. They say they found these two poor girls filthy, underfed, and with rotted teeth.
Lester was sentenced to five years in prison for child abuse and false imprisonment, and Petra will spend three years and four months in prison for similar charges. This isn't long enough, if you ask me, considering how they basically robbed these little girls of their education and self-worth.
The relationship between these children and the couple is unclear -- they don't appear to be their daughters, but we aren't sure why they were placed in their custody. Let's hope they find a far more suitable place to live now and that they are able to learn that they are worth far more than how they've been treated.
Do you think the sentences this man and woman received are fair?
Images via Orange County District Attorney's Office