Trent Lehrkamp's family outraged Georgia prosecutor downplayed teen's abuse
GLYNN COUNTY, Ga. - The family of Trent Lehrkamp blasted Georgia authorities after they held a press conference Monday minimizing the abuse and humiliation the 19-year-old endured at the hands of teenage bullies.
"It was evidence that they wanted to address and correct what the kids didn't do, but not recognize or acknowledge the fact of what was done to Trent," the family wrote in a statement posted on Lehrkamp's GoFundMe page.
"At the end of the day, he was mistreated in inhumane ways. Trent was humiliated, being hosed in a chair and the joke of social media videos, and being taped to a chair and posed with in pictures: it is disgusting," the outraged family wrote.
Glynn County Interim Police Chief O'Neal Jackson III and District Attorney Keith Higgins announced at the press conference Monday that parents Lauren and James Strother, who owned the home where Lehrkamp was victimized, were arrested for maintaining a disorderly house and contributing to the delinquency or dependency of a minor.
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Three teenagers were also arrested in connection to the Lehrkamp investigation – including 17-year-old Edward Rooker Hobby.
"He was not tortured," Higgins said of Lehrkamp, addressing what he described as rampant online misinformation. "Trenton voluntarily drank alcohol until he passed out. No one forced alcohol down his throat or forced him to drink."
Lauren and James Strother were arrested April 17 after Trent Lehrkamp, 19, drank so much alcohol at their St. Simons Island home that he lost consciousness and had to be hospitalized. (Glynn County Detention Center)
The charges against the parents stem from a rowdy March 21 party at the Strothers' St. Simons Island residence that left Lehrkamp so intoxicated, he could not breathe on his own and had to be placed on a ventilator at a nearby hospital.
Disturbing videos and photos soon emerged on social media that showed a group of teenagers appearing to abuse Lehrkamp at the same home.
In one snap taken the night he was hospitalized, he is passed out, taped to a chair and covered in spray paint and toys as a group of boys posed next to him – including Hobby. Later that night, Hobby and two pals drove an unconscious and barely breathing Lehrkamp to the hospital.
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At the press conference, Higgins repeatedly downplayed the matter, and praised Hobby and his friends for potentially saving Lehrkamp's life by seeking medical care.
In a 10-second clip filmed March 17, Lehrkamp is shown slumped over in a chair, as a teenager hoses him off in front of a group of underage revelers.
Higgins said Lehrkamp had voluntarily sat in the chair and agreed to be hosed off after an egg fight.
The family objected to that characterization.
"He came home and was once again spray-painted, covered in a glue like substance, sprayed with WD-40, and dripping wet from being hosed," the family wrote. "It is hard to believe, and it was the first the family heard, that he consented to being hosed down. He was visibly passed out in that video while being hosed."
The family questioned whether an incapacitated person can consent.
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Higgins dispelled false claims on social media that Lehrkamp's tormentors had urinated and defecated on him and forced him to drink battery acid – an approach that did not sit well with the family.
"We don't believe that confirming it wasn't feces on him, urine on him, or no battery acid down his throat makes this any better," they wrote. "A vulnerable 19-year-old was made to be a sick joke of someone's disgusting fun and games."
The intense media scrutiny on the case, which roped in the Georgia Bureau of Investigation and the FBI, detracted from more serious crimes, said Higgins.
"It has diverted a lot of resources," he bemoaned. "It has taken up an inordinate amount of time."
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Hobby was charged with battery for shooting an Orbeez gun at a girl at a party March 13 as his pal filmed the incident, according to a police report. She came forward and reported the abuse after Lehrkamp's story attracted national attention.
The two minors who were charged are 16 or younger and their names were not released due to their ages. One was booked for simple battery and criminal trespass, and the other for possession and use of drug-related objects, Jackson told reporters.
Lehrkamp is recovering at an out-of-state facility where he is being treated for trauma, PTSD and grief. He lost his mother unexpectedly in March 2021.