CLAYTON COUNTY, Ga. -- A Clayton County couple is in jail charged with beating and starving the three young boys in their care. But other family members say police got it all wrong.
They said that the grandfather, who had custody of the boys, is the one who was trying to rescue the boys from their own mother.
Investigators said they found three boys - a 7-month-old, a nearly-three-year-old and a 6-year-old - clearly suffering when they arrived at the home near Hampton, Georgia. But who abused the boys?
They were living with their grandfather, Kenneth Pless, and his girlfriend, Nakhea Banes. Police arrested them both and charged them with child cruelty, aggravated battery and depriving the children.
According to the arrest warrants, one of the boys said they were forced to drink water out of the toilet and they were rarely fed. The baby of the trio weighed only 8 pounds. And police said X-rays showed that the boys had had broken bones throughout their bodies, old breaks and more recent ones.
But Pless's oldest daughter, Takeyna Pless, and her fiancee Khalfani Mackey, describe Kenneth as a caring father and grandfather.
"My dad tried to help," Takeyna said.
They both said that in January, his other daughter gave birth to her third son and that he was born with alcohol and drugs in his system. She lost custody then.
"She had to go to rehab and the kids would be placed somewhere, so my dad stepped in and said, 'OK, I'll take 'em'," Takeyna said. "Supposed to be 15 days. Then it was supposed to be 45 days."
She said her dad took the baby to the hospital seeking doctors' help because the baby wasn't gaining weight, and she said doctors told them the baby was suffering long-term health problems due to his condition at birth. She said Pless recently notified the court that because of his own health - he had heart surgery - he could no longer care for the boys.
"Mr. Pless is one of the best men I know - father, grandfather - and you don't just stop that overnight," Mackey said.
Takeyna said the arrest warrants contain inaccuracies on basic facts--such as mixing up the boys' birthdates, and getting the name of one of the boys wrong--and they question the accuracy of the rest of the accusations in the arrest warrants for what the warrants include and do not include about the actual living conditions and the circumstances leading up to Pless taking the boys.
The family doesn't know where the state placed the three boys. They don't believe they're back with their mother.
A spokesman for DFCS said the agency would not comment about the case. A spokesperson for Clayton County Police also said no one would comment about the case.
Pless and Banes remain in jail without bond. They have a court hearing scheduled for September.
