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Helecia Morris, 41, of Brick Township, was sentenced to to eight years and Donna Jung, 57, of Lehigh Acres, Florida, to seven years in prison.
Jung and Morris were found guilty of endangering on May 25, following a week-long jury trial.
On Jan. 9, 2016, Officers from the Brick Township Police Department and representatives from the Division of Child Protection and Permanency responded to a residence on Queen Ann Road in reference to a wellness check on Morris’s biological eight-year old son.
Responding Officers found the child locked in his room in abhorrent conditions. The room also reeked of urine. The eight year-old male child and two other minor children were removed from the residence.
They were taken to Hackensack Meridian Ocean University Medical Center in Brick Township to be medically evaluated. All three children were subsequently placed in foster care.
An investigation by the Ocean County Prosecutor’s Office Special Victim’s Unit and the Brick Township Police Department revealed that the 8-year-old male victim was locked in his room day and night by Morris and Jung. He was not allowed to use the bathroom in the residence and was excluded from socializing with the rest of the family. The room contained no bed, no furniture, no lights, and no toys.
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