Charges filed over disturbing social media post showing juvenile beaten
ATLANTA - Police said they have arrested three people almost a month after a disturbing social media post was brought to investigator’s attention.
Jordan Jarrode Richards-Nwankwo, 18, Lorkeyla Jamia Spencer, 19, and Brittney Monique Mills, 35, were all charged with cruelty to children. Richards-Nwankwo faces an additional charge of battery.
"We’re very pleased with these arrests but we are pleased with feedback that we got from members of the community assisting in this and how quickly they were able to jump on it," said Sgt. John Chafee, Atlanta Police Department.
Jordan Jarrode Richards-Nwankwo (left), Lorkeyla Jamia Spencer (center), and Brittney Monique Mills (right)
Atlanta police were first alerted to the post "depicting maltreatment of a juvenile" on June 17. Within 24 hours, investigators said they were able to locate the juvenile and all those involved. The child was placed into protective custody with the Georgia Division of Family & Children Services.
"The behavior in this social media post was difficult to watch and is absolutely unacceptable. We are appreciative of the number of people who flagged this case with us and for those who provided information on the location where it took place. Our investigators worked hard to identify those involved and to gather the evidence needed to place each behind bars and we are thankful for their work," the Atlanta Police Department wrote in a statement.
Investigators said the video which was posted in June shows a young man with the word "ga-" shaved on the side of his head, and also shows people yelling at and hitting the young man. According to the police report, someone in the video was yelling at the boy, "You still doing gay s---. You think I cut this in your head for no reason?"
"Investigators were made aware of a video posted on social media that depicted a young male abused and it appeared that he was being abused because of his sexual orientation," said Chafee.
FOX 5 has chosen not to show the disturbing video or link to it online.
"This was a difficult video to watch. When you see someone, you know, I have a child, and when you see a young person being abused like this, I mean this is just so unnecessary. It was difficult to watch. And I think with a lot of the investigators it was the same way," said Chafee.
"There is a lot of work that goes into the back... into the background of these cases because we don't want to just, 'Okay, I this is the person and I am going to go ahead and charge them.' We got to present evidence in court otherwise our charges mean nothing," said Chafee.
Warrants were taken out for all three individuals and have since been arrested this week.
"This one came together with the way it should. People saw something wrong, they brought it to our attention, and our investigators jumped on it and acted quickly," said Chafee.
All three were booked into the Fulton County jail.
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