A Batavia Township couple is facing additional charges in connection with the alleged abuse of their five adopted sons, who prosecutors said were treated “worse than prisoners of war.”
Charles and Matthew Edmonson were indicted Tuesday on 26 counts each of felonious assault and child endangering. Those are in addition to numerous child endangering counts the couple was already facing in Clermont County Common Pleas Court.
In a news release, prosecutors said the latest indictment “addresses crimes committed by the Edmonsons during which they caused serious physical harm to their five adopted children by torturing and cruelly abusing them.”
If convicted as charged, the Edmonsons face a possible sentence of more than 200 years in prison. Prosecutors said 20-year-old Bailey Edmonson, Matthew Edmonson’s second oldest child, has also been charged with felonious assault and child endangering.
The children, all of whom are biologically related and adopted by the Edmonsons, were first brought to the couple as foster children, prosecutors said.
They were removed from the couple’s home in February as part of a joint investigation between the Clermont County Sheriff’s Office and Clermont County Children’s Protective Services.
Authorities first investigated the Edmonsons after a sexual assault was reported to the sheriff’s office in August 2022.
Charles Edmonson was indicted on sexual battery charges in October 2023. Court documents say he had numerous sexual encounters with his now-adult son, who was also adopted, between January 2020 and August 2022.
Court records show the elder Edmonson was convicted in March of two gross sexual imposition counts and sentenced to three years in prison.
It was because of that earlier investigation into sexual abuse that officials uncovered video evidence of the younger children being abused and neglected, the sheriff’s office said.
The children had been in and out of the hospital for various reasons, including bruising, bleach burns and possible internal bleeding − symptoms that were all explained away by their adoptive parents, prosecutors said.
More witnesses have come forward since the couple was first indicted, including neighbors and family members, prosecutors said.
“Thanks to this strong community of people who never gave up in their efforts to protect these 5 young boys, they are finally liberated from the appalling Edmonson parenting nightmare,” Clermont County Prosecutor Mark Tekulve said in a statement.
Court records did not list attorney information for either of the Edmonsons.
Charles Edmonson, 63, who is currently incarcerated at the Noble Correctional Institution in Caldwell, is set to appear in court for an arraignment on July 24.
Matthew Edmonson, 49, is being held at the Clermont County Jail and has a pretrial hearing set for Wednesday.
Officials are urging anyone with information about the alleged abuse to contact the prosecutor’s office at 513-732-7313.
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