Angie Moreschi/Eyewitness News
Bloomington, February 2 - Fifty-three-year old Diana Groves is known for taking in and adopting unwanted children. Her yard appears to be the perfect setting for kids.
But inside, detectives say cruel and unusual punishment was used on at least three of those children, including a developmentally disabled little boy.
"(She) restrained him by duct taping his arms to his body and his feet together and placed him in a bathtub," said Detective Brad Swain of the Monroe County Sheriff's Department.
Swain says a babysitter found the little boy and called Child Protective Services. Thirteen children were removed from the home when it happened in November. Interviews with other children revealed at least two others were also restrained for bad behavior.
Swain says children also report being whipped with a tennis racket and paddle and that an eight-year-old girl was put in a clothes drier and spun around.
"The child, who was in the drier, states she was placed in there for misbehaving and the drier was activated for several minutes while she was inside," said Swain.
Groves said she had no comment on the charges but believes she is a good parent. Groves also faces charges as a habitual criminal for having at least two felonies in her past, including theft and fraud, something experts say should have prevented her from adopting so many children.
The Adoption Support Center in Indianapolis says it was contacted by Groves several times over the past few years as she tried to adopt more children, but they say several red flags led them to say no, they could not help her.
Many of the children in Groves' home were special needs children. Many came from other states and even foreign countries. Some developmentally challenged, others from "disrupted adoptions," where the family that originally adopted them decided it wasn't working out, something Julie Craft says makes this all the more upsetting. "That's the stuff that I mean," said Craft. "That's why we're here, not to have those things happen. They need special care and should not to be put in someplace unsafe."
Just how many children Groves adopted and whether those adoptions were legal is still under investigation.
