DALE COUNTY, Ala (WDHN) — An Ariton couple were arrested after deputies said they burned and abused three young children.
According to the Dale County Sheriff's Office, DCSO investigators and the Department of Human Resources were recently alerted to an abuse case involving three children under 12 in Ariton.
Lieutenant Caroline Jackson says during an investigation, they discovered Ashleigh Ableman, 27, and her boyfriend, 53-year-old Howard Anderson, had burned Ableman's three children with a blowtorch several times.
Jackson said the burns were severe, and the children had signs of other kinds of abuse.
On Thursday, Oct. 5, Dale County Sheriff's Deputies executed a search warrant at a home in Ariton and arrested Ableman and Anderson.
They were both charged with one count of torture/wilful abuse of a child.