Left: Amy Billotte. Right: Sarah Faber (Jefferson County Prison).
In a disturbing case emerging from Pennsylvania, two women are facing serious charges after allegedly abusing their adopted teenage son. The women reportedly subjected the boy to harsh treatment, including binding him with duct tape to his bedroom floor, forcing him to stand for extended periods, and denying him food, which led to a significant weight loss of 20 pounds.
Amy L. Billotte, 51, and Sarah Lynn Faber, 37, have each been charged with over 950 counts, according to prosecutors and court records. These charges include more than 460 counts of unlawful restraint of a minor and over 460 counts of false imprisonment of a minor, alongside additional accusations of endangering the welfare of a child, simple assault, and making terroristic threats.
The troubling details came to light following a criminal complaint accessed by local NBC affiliate WJAC and CBS affiliate WTAJ. In early September, school officials in Brookville—located about 70 miles northeast of Pittsburgh—alerted police after noticing the 16-year-old boy appeared malnourished. The officials hadn’t seen the boy since May 2024, as he attended school online. During this period, he reportedly lost about 20 pounds.
Police interviews with the teenager revealed alarming accounts of alleged mistreatment by the women. The boy described being confined to a stark room devoid of toys, books, or electronics, with cameras installed to monitor his movements. These cameras, equipped with motion sensors, reportedly triggered the women’s anger if he moved too much, according to the complaint.
Further details from the complaint allege that the boy was punished by being forced to strip naked and endure cold showers. He was also allegedly made to live in the basement for a week wearing only his underwear. Additionally, the women purportedly restrained him with duct tape to the basement floor as part of their punitive measures.
He reportedly claimed that as a form of punishment, the suspects would allegedly strip him naked and force him to take a cold shower. Other punishments included making him live in the basement for a week while only wearing his underwear, according to cops. The suspects also allegedly strapped him down with duct tape to the basement floor.
The suspects also reportedly sliced his genitals and cut his arm with a blade, which caused excessive bleeding.
“Luckily, I didn”t die from that,” he allegedly said.
Faber and Billotte also reportedly threatened to “squirt cat insulin into his eyes.”
Child protective services removed him from the home and took him to a hospital, where he regained the weight he lost within weeks. The boy explained to investigators that when he was first placed in the suspects’ home, things were good.
“I thought it was going to be fun,” he said. “There were toys and books, and they would read me bedtime stories every night.”
But the situation began to take a turn for the worse when Billotte and Faber began to withhold sugar-based foods, saying they made him hyper, the affidavit stated. They then allegedly began to take food away from him. Billotte and Faber also allegedly forced him to lay on the floor without a mattress and on a couple of occasions duct-taped him to his bedroom floor.
Both suspects were arrested on Tuesday and remain in the Jefferson County Prison on $500,000 bonds. Their next court dates are scheduled for Dec. 19.
