"Daddy'O'Five" parents might end up spending 10 years in prison for child abuse

[Master Disaster]

In case you missed the drama, DaddyOFive was a series of videos posted on YouTube by two parents who thought it would be a good idea to film themselves pranking their children, the problem is the things they did were just straight up horrible and caused uproar.

 

Well now it appears as though the courts aren't happy with the videos and are looking to prosecute the couple on child abuse charges.

Quote

The father and stepmother who pull dark pranks on their children on their controversial “DaddyOFive” channel face child neglect charges and up to ten years in prison, PEOPLE confirms.

 

On July 27, prosecutors in Frederick County, Maryland, charged Heather and Michael Martin each with two counts of neglect of a minor, court records obtained show. Prosecutors allege that the Martins neglected two of their youngest children, Emma, 12, and Cody, 9, between November 2016 and April 2017.

 

The Martins face up to five years in prison per count and a $5,000 fine.

 

The couple has reached a plea agreement with prosecutors, their attorney, Stephen Tully, told the Frederick News Post, but he wouldn’t comment further.

 

The Martins have a plea hearing scheduled for Sept. 11, court records state.

 

After the videos the couple lost custody of the youngest two kids to their biological mother after she applied to the courts for emergency custody citing the videos as proof.

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In April, the couple lost custody of Emma and Cody, the two youngest of their five children, amid outrage from the public — as well as from Rose Hall, the children’s biological mother.

 

On April 28, Hall went before the Frederick County Circuit Court to obtain emergency custody of the children “so that they would be safe,” her attorney, Tim Conlon, says in a video he and Hall posted on YouTube on May 1.

 

In some of the videos the couple decided it would be a good idea to scream and swear at their 12 year old (Emma) and 9 year old (Cody) until they started crying

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The charges stem from controversial videos the Ijamsville, Maryland, couple made showing them playing twisted pranks on their children that many viewers across the Internet decried as abusive.

 

In the videos, which have been taken off YouTube, Michael Martin, the children’s father, and Heather Martin, their stepmother, are apparently shown screaming and swearing at them until they cry.

 

The youngest child, Cody, was a frequent target of the pranks. In a video posted on April 12, Michael Martin screams at Cody for spilling ink, apparently making the boy cry. Later, Heather Martin reveals that she used invisible ink.

 

The courts are so upset they've issued the couple with a gag order preventing them from discussing the case or the children with the media

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Conlon declined PEOPLE’s request for comment Monday, citing a May gag order preventing Hall, Martin or their attorneys from speaking to the media.

 

According to court records, the gag order stems from a protective order a judge issued in May prohibiting Martin from contacting the two children.

 

As it happens the 2 youngest children's biological mother was already fighting the father for custody anyway

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Hall, who lives in North Carolina, told the Baltimore Sun that she hadn’t seen her daughter Emma since 2015 and her son Cody since 2014 because of a custody battle with Michael Martin, who is her ex-boyfriend.

 

The couple admit they made some bad choices but insist they are not bad people and were just trying to get views by shocking people

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In April, the couple took to YouTube to apologize, claiming that the clips of them apparently berating the children are actually scripted.

 

Heather Martin told ABC News, “We love our kids. They’re the most important thing in the world to us. We made poor parenting choices by portraying ourselves this way. But we are not bad people.”

 

Saying he was ashamed, Michael Martin added, “This just — it started out as family fun. It started with me and my kids … They would get excited when they would get a lot of views. You know, it was more for shock value. We were going for shock value.”

http://people.com/crime/daddyofive-youtube-parents-face-10-years-charged-child-neglect/

 

Lock em up and throw away the key IMO. It might have been funny for them but the two kids who had no prior knowledge of what was going must have been terrified.

 

They might not be bad people but they obviously don't have the required skills to be looking after children. Screaming and swearing at a 9 year old child is not funny in any way, shape or form and I struggle to comprehend the mindset of anybody who thinks that will make people laugh.

[PlayStation 2]

So they played retarded pranks on their kids and they're paying the price with prison.

They can hold this L.

[Bananasplit_00]

this is just straight up horrible, even if it was scripted, which i doubt. Id actiually want to hear what the kids feel about it but i doubt we will get that

[PCGuy_5960]

IMO, they deserve this

[Trixanity]

How I loathe the "it's just a prank, bro" people and culture. Glad that some justice is being dealt, especially in this case.

[Mooshi]

7 minutes ago, Trixanity said:

How I loathe the "it's just a prank, bro" people and culture. Glad that some justice is being dealt, especially in this case.

Pretty much. Wether it was scripted or not, you don't scream at a 9 year old like they're an adult in boot camp. Even more recording it like an idiot.

[NumLock21]

Throw them in for life. The kids are probably screwed up forever. 

[flibberdipper]

They deserve it. Hope they drop the soap.

[spartaman64]

wow if they can face 10 years from that my parents would have gotten life from what they used to do /half joke

[Tech_Dreamer]

" 5 Years *slams gavel* , I'm Just kidding , It's just a prank bro , i meant 10 "

 

                                                                                                                - Judge 

 

 

[christianled59]

1 hour ago, Mooshi said:

Pretty much. Wether it was scripted or not, you don't scream at a 9 year old like they're an adult in boot camp. Even more recording it like an idiot.

There was also physical violence. He forced the kids to hit each other, and he shoved some of them. He also destroyed things in front of the kid to incite fear. Then yell at them for crying about it.

[Master Disaster]

30 minutes ago, Tech_Dreamer said:

" 5 Years *slams gavel* , I'm Just kidding , It's just a prank bro , i meant 10 "

 

                                                                                                                - Judge 

 

 

I remember this doing the rounds, still pretty sure its fake but if so its a good fake

 

 

[Guest]

What's worse is they have some very loyal fans. A lot are kids themselves and some deranged people I'm sure. That is frightening. 

[DildorTheDecent]

13 minutes ago, Master Disaster said:

I remember this doing the rounds, still pretty sure its fake but if so its a good fake

kek, that's hilarious. 

[Jito463]

If these things were real (as in, the kids didn't know or understand what was going on), then lock 'em up and forget where the key is.  The things people will do just to get attention, never ceases to amaze me.  They wanted their 15 minutes of fame, now they'll have several years to decide if it was worth it.

[Ryujin2003]

2 hours ago, Dan Castellaneta said:

So they played retarded pranks on their kids and they're paying the price with prison.

They can hold this L.

I'm sure they will hold this instead:

[Deli]

God, I can't bear to watch even one video.

 

Sick minded people will go any distance to get views for their youtube channels.

[PocketNerd]

Aside from this not really being news about Tech... Yeah I'm glad these two are seeing jail time.

[AshleyAshes]

2 hours ago, NumLock21 said:

libtard mod

Always a good way to get on the moderator's good side.

[Dackzy]

can we give them more?

[Guest]

32 minutes ago, AshleyAshes said:

Always a good way to get on the moderator's good side.

Tells me enough about the user too... 

[NumLock21]

1 hour ago, spartaman64 said:

what if the mod was a good Christian conservative who doesn't want unwholesome posts

Then this forum will never exist in the first place.

Humans destroys itself through PR...

[matrix07012]

[spartaman64]

9 minutes ago, NumLock21 said:

Then this forum will never exist in the first place.

why

[Teddy07]

How exactly is this tech news or reviews?