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PROUD PARENTS: IN THE NEWS
GREENWOOD COUNTY, SC (WYFF) – A principal’s concern led a deputy to check on a dog breeder’s home and children, and now there are two very different versions of what was going on at the property.
Greenwood deputies said they were led to believe Amy Elizabeth-Rion Wilson was using her children, ages 7, 11 and 13 as workers at what they called a puppy mill, and that she abused and neglected the children when they didn’t work hard enough.
But the property owner gives a very different version of the story.
The principal of Springfield Elementary school, where two of the children are students, said she called the Greenwood County Sheriff’s Office on Nov. 28, because she was concerned that the brothers, ages 7 and 11, had bruises on their legs.
According to an incident report, when a deputy talked with the children, they told him that their mother, Amy Elizabeth-Rion Wilson, and Spear ran a puppy mill with hundreds of puppies. The children said that their job was to clean the dog pens when they got home, and they told deputies that most nights it would be after 1:00 a.m. before they would get done cleaning and feeding the dogs, the police report said.
The principal told a deputy that she was concerned because lately the boys appeared tired and their grades were falling. She said the children would come to school dirty, wearing the same clothes several days in a row.
The police report said the boys told the deputy that their mother would slap them in the face if they did not get their work done as fast as she wanted them to, the police report said. They also told the deputy that during the summer, their beds were infested with ants, but their mother made them sleep in them anyway.
The children told the deputy that they were given a pair of gloves to wear to clean the cages, but if the gloves tore, their mother forced them to use their bare hands, the report said.
Deputies said they located the kennels, which they said appeared to contain several hundred dogs.
The deputy said when he asked to see the inside of Wilson’s home she told them she’d rather stand outside in the rain to talk. The deputy explained that the Department of Social Services had been contacted and the house would need to be checked, so Wilson agreed to let the officer in, but asked for time to straighten up, according to the incident report.
The deputy did not allow Wilson time to clean up, and went into the house with her. The deputy said the smell in the home was “almost unbearable.” The deputy said there were dog kennels filled with feces in the kitchen that contained one or two dogs each.
The deputy said he found an elderly woman in the home who identified herself as Wilson’s grandmother. The woman told the deputy she was not doing well and had not eaten all day. The woman was taken to a hospital to be checked out, the incident report said.
Because of the conditions in the home and the bruising the deputy saw on the boys, the children were removed from the home and put in the custody of their father and stepmother, who live in Alabama, according to the incident report.
Lisa Spear owns the property on Lemon Tree Rd. in Greenwood and the business, which she say is a dog kennel, not a puppy mill. There are more than 200 toy dogs at Cedar Hill Farm. She said deputies did not remove any of the animals.
“Everybody here works hard,” Spear said. “The deputy called it clean.”
A WYFF reporter said that from what she could see, the dogs appeared clean and well-cared for. She said in the area where the dogs were kept outside, she did not notice any offensive odor.
Wilson did not permit the reporter inside of her home.
Spear said the boys may have exaggerated about what happened because they had been punished for doing something potentially dangerous while she and Wilson were running errands. She said Wilson’s mother was watching the children.
“They were being boys, but they were being bad,” Spear told WYFF. “They just slipped away from the grandmother too long and got into stuff.”
Spear says the boys took hundreds of dollars worth of chemicals that were in her garage and dumped them into a barrel with plans to try to ignite it. Spear said when the boys then asked the grandmother for matches and a deodorizer, the grandmother became suspicious and sent their 13-year-old sister to check on what they were up to.
Spear said the sister found the barrel behind a shed filled with the chemicals.
“They had filled it up with Roundup, oil, all my horse vitamins, horse medicine – everything that they could get their hands on that would screw off and pour,” Spear said.
The grandmother made the boys tell their mother what they did when she returned home.
“This is the reason the children got a spanking and this is also the reason they were cleaning dog pens is because of their punishment. It made me cry for two days. These kids could’ve blown themselves up,” she said. “Any parent that caught a child doing this would’ve spanked them.”
Spear said that some of the bruises on the boys may have been the result of them rough-housing with each other, not because they had been hit by an adult.
She also said that Wilson’s grandmother suffers from dementia, and she had eaten twice on the day in question. Spear said Wilson’s grandmother is now being cared for by another relative.
Spear said Wilson does laundry regularly.
“If they had on the same clothes from the day before, it’s because the boys dressed themselves and Amy didn’t catch it,” Spear said. “They’re boys. They wake up in the morning and put on the clothes they want to wear.”
Wilson was charged with unlawful conduct toward a child. The Sheriff’s Office did not return calls answer questions about any pending charges in connection with the elderly woman. No charges were filed in connection with the dogs or their care, Spear said. Spear said she was only told to get rabies tags for some of the dogs.
The school district issued a statement Tuesday saying they are required to report all situations when they think a child might be abused or neglected.
19 Comments to PROUD PARENTS: IN THE NEWS
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I have a question… who is Spear? There is no mention of who he/she is at the beginning of the article.
Read the article. Halfway through it lists Lisa Spear as the owner of the property and “dog kennel” business.
Read the rest of the article Andrea…
In any case, it sounds like this woman had her hands full and could not care for her children and a dementia patient as well as all the dogs. The principal went to the authorities and not the kids, so I am not sure why she thinks her children are “out to get her” for punishing them. It sounds like she punishes them like that every single day according to the principal and at least someone came forward and got them out of those nasty conditions. Dog feces in the kitchen, wtf…*shudders*
Heather, Lisa Spear was the name listed as the woman that actually OWNED the “kennel/puppy mill”
Sorry, that was meant to be addressed to Andrea.
I say throw her into a porta potty at a construction site for a day, since she loves shit so much.
What I can’t figure out is that the DOG kennels were in better shape than her HOUSE?? WTH.. maybe she should have those kids working on keeping the effing house clean and find those 200 dogs homes.. she’s obviously in over her head.. hell i’ve got 3 kids and 2 cats and i’m overhwelmed i can’t imagine adding TWO HUNDRED dogs in the mix that’s just supidity..
What a piece of shit.
I absolutely hate people that say things like ‘oh if they wore dirty clothes, it’s because they wore what they wanted.’ Where is the parenting here?! I have a 7, 4, and 2 year old and I pick and lay their clothes out each morning- CLEAN clothes! That is a parent’s job! I do believe this was standard treatment, because what the old lady said happened to match up with the way the kids were treated. The kids didn’t mention anything about the barrel to the school…don’t you think they would have said ‘we were punished so we had to do chores?’ Even so, there is an appropriate punishment, and that is not slave labor.
The fact that the mother left the children under the care of a great-grandmother “with dementia” who apparently doesn’t even know when SHE has eaten, is all I really needed to see…
Seriously?? The woman who owns this property and “kennel” (read puppy mill) is sticking up for the mom, making excuses, and claiming the grandmother has dementia since she also claimed to have been neglected…Yeah, of course this woman Spear is going to make the mom look good! She doesn’t want to be going to jail either for running a puppy mill. This mother wasn’t “in over head” she’s a low life criminal who was using her children to help run an illegal organization that sells often sickly puppies for outrageous prices. Hope she gets some serious jail time and the kids have a happier, healthier life with their father.
I have to disagree with pretty much all of you. Kids lie. They are nothing if not liars. Especially when they’re pissed off at mom or dad for punishing them. I don’t think making them clean kennels and feed the dogs is a harsh punishment. I used to have to clean the chicken coop, turkey cage, dog kennel and rabbit cage when I was little and misbehaved. Also, the kids weren’t left alone with an elderly grandmother who has dementia. Their 13 year old sister was also there and 13 is more than old enough to babysit. And, as a 7 and 11 year old, I picked out my own clothes and sometimes wore the same clothes a couple days on a row. That’s what kids do! They find a shirt they like and never want to take it off. I think you’re all forgetting just how nasty, disgusting and unsanitary children are.
I am rather disgusted though regarding the condition of the kennels in the kitchen. That’s just nasty.
i think burnter said it best. sauce, by the time my daughter was 3 and going to head start, she wouldnt let me pick out her clothes. i do think the woman had more than she can take care of. and i agree completely that the 13 yr old was old enough to help watch the brothers. My son has to scoop dog poop EVERY weekend, and feed and water the dogs every day. am i a bad parent? at least my kids have chores and wont be useless to society like some of your kids will be. but dog poop in the kitchen? we all have to draw a line somewhere! ew ew ew.
Kids having chores is not the problem. Kids working until 1 am, cleaning kennels without proper gloves, and having food come from a kitchen that had feces all over is. Most normal people clean up pet accidents as soon as they see them anywhere in the house, let alone in the kitchen. As a SPCA volunteer, I won’t even start on the type of person that runs a puppy mill. Anyone wanting a toy dog, go to a shelter. There are plenty of little dogs that women got tired of carrying in their purses.
Poor puppies!! D’:
I am crying right now! Puppy mills are the worst thing ever! Burn in hell you filthy bitch!!!!
@Burnter: You are an idiot. I hope to God you never have children. And, I’m sure your time spent cleaning chicken coops is a leading cause of your sick resentment. Children are far from “disgusting”; they are a product of those who raise them ergo, your parents obviously sucked ass because so do you. “They are NOTHING, if not liars”? You have a really great outlook on the value of youth and childhood. If a child is “nasty, disgusting, and unsanitary”, it isn’t because that’s their choice; it’s because their parents aren’t concerned enough to make sure that their children’s hygiene is up to par. Please, do everyone a favor and have a vasectomy right now before we hear another story like this involving your slave-labored children.
I dont know where i stand on this article. I think more investigation should be done. Untill we know what the authorities said, I cant make a sound decision on weather the kennel/mill situation is a good environment for children or not. We would have to hear the accounts from the laws perspective. This article was written for I assume the papers. The interviewer was allowed some access to the home. I think the person who wrote this wrote it with a bias. The interviewer made a decision that the children were in the wrong here and wrote the article leaning to that side. As a future educator, I can tell you that NO school principal would step in doo doo like this unless he really felt this was a case that needed to be looked into. I bet if we were to do a little digging we could find some update articles about this. I do agree that it is a PARENTAL DUTY to make sure your children are making safe and sound decisions. I must say the mother is not doing her parental job as well as she should. Children should be allowed to make some bad decisions to learn. Let your child wear their clothes that they want, but if they look dirty…change them and explain why! Everyday experiences are the best place to teach life lessons. Obviously this woman is in over her head, but i think any sane person would read this article and know that something is not adding up.
To those that say ugly things about the mother and burning in hell etc:
I would hate if this were truly a puppy mill, but what is the issue here? The puppies that they did NOT take, or the CHILDREN that they did? Why would you condemn someone to HELL period?
People, It is our duty as americans and humans to present an example of grace and humanity in all that we do…EVEN ON THE INTERNET! For shame!
No, my kids are 3 and almost 8 and if my oldest dresses herself I always check to make sure it’s appropriate and clean. I also make sure her hair is clean and brushed. I don’t just say get ready and go and not even “catch” that she’s wearing the same clothes for days. Yes kids would rather ommit their poor actions such as the barrel but they shouldn’t have been left in the care of the Grandmother with dementia! Even for an errand because it’s not safe.