Former Georgia Tech Linebacker Recardo Wimbush Charged With Child Cruelty

According to a report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution, former Georgia Tech Linebacker Recardo Wimbush along with his wife, Therian Cornelia Wimbush , have both been charged with child cruelty and arrest warrants have been issued for both parents.

The child cruelty charge is being issued because the Wimbushes allegedly locked their 13-year-old son in a room down in the family basement of their Buford,Ga home, keeping him separate from the other nine siblings that stayed in the household. Recardo Wimbush and his wife told investigators that the reason why the child was locked in the basement was for “disciplinary reasons”.

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Cpl. Jake Smith, who was the spokesman for the Gwinnett County Police, was quoted as follows:

“The victim had been confined to the room for most of the past two years and a lock had been added to the victim’s room in January 2013. The victim had no access to books, toys, entertainment devices, or his siblings”

-Atlanta Journal-Constitution

Recardo and Therian Wimbush are both being charged with “malicious and intentional cruelty to children” and “false imprisonment”. They have until Friday June 27th to turn themselves in for these charges. The investigation into these charges arose out of an anonymous tip being called into the Department of Family and Children Services (DFCS).

When social workers found the boy in a room in the basement that was locked from the outside. Inside the room was a box spring with a mattress on it and a bucket that was probably used as a toilet. The child looked healthy according to police and the room was kept clean. Also it appeared that the kid was fed at normal times and was only allowed out of the room to go and use the bathroom. The room that he was kept in was dark however due to the fact that there was no light bulb in the fixture and the lone window in the room “was painted white which let in a small amount of light during daylight hours”, according to Cpl Smith. The 13-year-old boy and his nine brothers and sisters are now in state custody.

The Wimbushes told a judge back on June 19th that they felt the 13-year-old victim in this situation was a threat to the other nine children in the home and supposedly the boy had molested three of the other siblings. The child’s retort was that he was being held in the basement because he had stolen the families’ DVD player and lied about it. The police said that they found no support for the claim of molestation by the child and that none of the other siblings complained about anything along those lines.

The 13-year-old boy is one of three children that the Wimbushes had while Recardo attended Georgia Tech. Recardo Wimbush was the linebacker captain in his senior season of 2002. Therian was his tutor and was working on duel degrees at Georgia Tech and Spellman back then.

Recardo Wimbush grew up in Blakely, Ga and was a Gerogia Tech linebacker from 1999-2002. After joining the Atlanta Falcons as a rookie free agent in 2003 and being cut he continued to pursue his degree and earned it in 2010.

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