Background: The intersection of Quarry Road and South Lancaster Street in Swatara Township, Pa. (Google Maps). Insets (from left to right): Jade Shuey and Stephanie Schaffner (Lebanon County District Attorney”s Office).
A Pennsylvania child-abuse investigation involving a 5-year-old boy allegedly confined in a filthy bedroom secured with wooden boards and zip ties has widened. Authorities have charged two additional suspects, while two existing defendants now face an added criminal count.
Jade Shuey and Tucker Heagy, both 21, along with 42-year-old Stephanie Schaffner, were previously charged with endangering the welfare of a child, as Law&Crime previously reported. Shuey and Heagy also face charges of aggravated assault against a victim younger than 13, conspiracy to commit aggravated assault against a victim younger than 13, conspiracy to commit child endangerment and unlawful restraint of a minor.
The Pennsylvania State Police (PSP) announced this week that Shuey and Schaffner have each been charged with criminal conspiracy to commit obstruction in a child-abuse case.
Scott Schaffner, 59, and Cathy Schaffner, 62, “voluntarily surrendered themselves to authorities” on Sept. 29, according to police. Both were charged with criminal conspiracy to commit child endangerment and criminal conspiracy to commit obstruction in a child-abuse case. Each posted bail and was released from custody.
The investigation began on the morning of July 10, when Pennsylvania State Police responded to the intersection of Quarry Road and South Lancaster Street in Swatara Township, roughly 95 miles northwest of Philadelphia.
Witnesses told authorities they had found a 5-year-old boy “naked walking in the middle of the road.” Troopers took the child to a hospital for evaluation.
Investigators determined that the boy had allegedly “escaped” from a nearby house on North Poplar Street. Inside, authorities said they found what they described as “hoarder conditions,” including “trash throughout, hundreds of flies” and so much “clutter” that there was “limited room for maneuvering the house.”
Authorities said the conditions extended beyond the general clutter.
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A bedroom was reportedly blocked by a baby gate attached to the outside of the door frame. Investigators said it had been secured with “numerous zip ties and duct tape.”
“Above the baby gate, there was miscellaneous wood boards drilled into the outside of the door frame to prevent the male child from escaping the bedroom,” PSP said, identifying the room as the boy’s. Investigators also reported feces smeared on the walls and bedroom window, a bed torn apart with food scattered across it, trash on the floor, hundreds of flies throughout the bedroom and home, and children’s toys spread around the residence.
Lebanon County District Attorney Pier Hess Graf said the child “lived in hell.”
“He lived locked behind caged bars, able to look out at his family but not live a real life,” Graf said, according to regional NBC affiliate WGAL. “He existed in pure filth.”
Authorities identified Shuey as the boy’s mother, Heagy as Shuey’s boyfriend and Schaffner as the child’s grandmother. The relationship between Scott and Cathy Schaffner and the boy remains unclear.
“His mother and grandmother failed him. Every second of every minute of every day, that child deserved a better life and maternal love,” Graf said. “Our Office intends to fully prosecute these heinous criminals and hold them fully accountable for the abuse. It’s a sad reality that their prison cells will be far cleaner and far more accommodating than the living conditions they intentionally created for that little boy.”
Scott and Cathy Schaffner are scheduled to appear for a preliminary hearing on Oct. 22.
The three other defendants are scheduled to face a jury trial on Nov. 16.
