School Worker Starved And Tortured Adopted Daughter Who She Kept Prisoner In Alarmed Bedroom

A Florida school worker has been arrested for abusing her adopted daughter who she allegedly hit, starved and kept locked up - even installing an alarm system on her bedroom so she could monitor her movements.

Dorothea Vega, 59, a parent liaison worker, allegedly hit the girl with sticks and shoes, barred her from eating and bathing and raised her in deplorable conditions.

The Sheriff’s Office told the Pensacola News-Journal that the home included “a dirty mattress on the floor, windows screwed shut and a dog cage with feces in it”.

It also reported Vega, a part-time worker at Ensley Elementary School, allegedly gave the girl a large amount of anti-psychotic drugs and allergy medication in an effort to control her.

She is also alleged to have put alarms on her daughter's bedroom to ensure she never left without permission.
Vega, of Pensacola, was arrested on Thursday on child-abuse charges.

Police escorted her away from the elementary school where she has worked for two years.

According to the arrest warrant seen by the News-Journal, the girl was 'not allowed to come out of her room except to eat or do chores' and alarms sounded if she left.

The report says that the girl told police: 'her mother hits all of her body but mostly on her head and face ... (with) toilet plungers, brooms, sticks, shoes, rulers and wooden spoons along with an open or closed fist.'
 
It also alleges she had to get permission to bathe and was sometimes not allowed to eat.

'(The girl) states she has to come to school and bathe in the bathroom to prepare for a full day of school,' the warrant alleges.

The warrant reportedly claims the abuse took place between August 1 and November 2.

Vega faces several domestic violence charges, including battery, torturing a child, caging a child and cruelty toward a child that could result in physical or mental injury.

She is being held in the Escambia County Jail.

Escambia County Schools Superintendent Malcolm Thomas told the News-Journal that Vega would not be allowed on campus until the case is closed.

'We always separate the individual from students until allegations are proven or until the case is completely tried,' Thomas said.