A Derry Township couple pleaded guilty Tuesday to repeatedly assaulting a teenage boy so severely that he is permanently disfigured.
Charles E. Harr, 54, and his wife, Jamie Denise Harr, 53, were charged with multiple felony offenses in connection with allegations they beat and strangled the child for more than four years.
According to Westmoreland County court records, the boy was 10 when the physical assaults started in January 2019 and continued until September 2023. Prosecutors said a witnesses reported overhearing sounds of child abuse during a phone call two years ago. Investigators later discovered a 14-year-old boy with substantial head injuries, including body bruises as well as what doctors later concluded was a permanent disfigurement of his ear.
The investigation found a repeated pattern of child abuse, police said.
Authorities claimed Charles and Jamie Harr strangled and punched the child, removed his glasses during the assaults and refused to return them for weeks, confined him to a house, poured Carolina Reaper hot pepper powder on his genitals and made him eat hot peppers.
The boy told police the Harrs repeatedly threatened his life.
The Harrs initially told investigators the child suffered his injuries when he was struck by a car while attempting to save a kitten stuck under a vehicle several weeks earlier.
Both Harrs pleaded guilty to felony counts of aggravated assault, strangulation, conspiracy, intimidation, child endangerment and interfering with child welfare agents. Jamie Harr also pleaded guilty to misdemeanor counts of terroristic threats and simple assault.
Common Pleas Court Judge Michael Stewart II ordered the Harrs to remain in jail pending a sentencing hearing later this year. They face sentences of up to 20 years in prison, according to court records.