Florida mother gets prison sentence for letting boyfriend beat, torture her 5-year-old son

DELAND, Fla. (WKRC) — A Florida woman was sentenced to 60 years in prison after pleading guilty to charges related to the abuse of her 5-year-old son, authorities said.

Taylor Schaefer entered an open plea in the 2023 case, according to the Volusia Sheriff’s Office.

Investigators said home surveillance video showed the child being beaten by Schaefer’s boyfriend, Shawn Stone. Authorities said Schaefer was present in the home during the abuse and failed to seek medical care for the boy despite visible injuries.

“The video shows Stone punching and striking the young child with a mop over a bedwetting accident,” the sheriff’s office said in a news release. “He was beaten so severely that he sustained a fractured skull. There were also 46 visible injuries reported by Child Protective Services (CPS) following its medical examination.”

Detectives said the child was at times restrained with his hands bound behind his back for extended periods, placed in a dog cage and deprived of food.

“A mother’s sacred duty is to love and protect her children — not to viciously beat, torture, and demean them,” State Attorney R.J. Larizza said, per the release. “It is a brutal reality that some mothers commit shamefully violent and cruel acts upon their children. God bless and keep these children as they navigate through life after suffering such atrocities.”

Stone’s case is still pending in court.