Arcadia couple facing child abuse charges after teen is found locked in a shed

Two people in Arcadia have been arrested after Arcadia Police Department officers discovered they had locked a teenager in a shed.

On Friday, officers say they responded to help assist with a child abuse investigation being conducted by DCF. When they arrived at the home of Harry Shoemaker and his girlfriend Jennifer Hines in Arcadia, they were told that a 14-year-old was locked in a shed on the property.

When officers opened the shed, they found the teen who told them they were locked in there for several hours. They learned that being locked in the shed was a regular occurrence. The teen told officers he regularly sleeps in the shed.

Inside the shed, officers found snacks, canned food, a bed, and a large bucket that appeared to have human waste in it. The shed was found to have no electricity or plumbing, with very little ventilation and a lock that could only be opened from the outside.

Sandy Simmons, a neighbor who lives across the street, said she always thought something was strange about Shoemaker. “We kept saying that there was something odd going on over there but we never thought anything like that,” Simmons said.

She told said he was always private and unpleasant, and when she spoke to the young boy he seemed unhappy but she never guessed there was abuse happening in the home.

“It’s not until afterward that you start putting the stuff together and you say ‘Woah’ something peculiar is going on. We kept saying there was something odd going on but we never thought anything like that. I cannot get that child out of my mind because I know that he must have suffered terribly,” said Simmons.

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