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Victim's Cousin Arrested in Margate Child Torture Case

Treaunshae Gibbons {BSO}

By Kevin Deutsch

Another person has been arrested in connection with an investigation that uncovered years of torture and violent punishment of a child in a Margate home, court records show.

Treaunshae Gibbons, 29, the victim’s cousin, is charged with child neglect with great bodily harm and failure to report child abuse, the records state. From November 2015 until November 2019, Gibbons lived in the home where the child was abused and failed to alert authorities, police allege.

“As a result of this investigation, [Margate Police] discovered the child victim sustained significant bodily harm and permanent disfigurement due to the intentional infliction of physical injury, willful torture, and malicious punishments over approximately ten years,” police wrote in court records.

Gibbons “witnessed and/or otherwise knew of the abuse and neglect the child victim was experiencing and failed to make a reasonable effort” to protect the victim, the records state.

Gibbons was ordered held on $80,000 bond and remained at the BSO Main Jail as of Friday morning, records show. No attorney information was listed online.

Gibbons is the fourth person to be charged in the abuse case and the fifth member of the Margate household to be arrested since police rescued the girl from the home on Northwest 79th Terrance in October, records show.

The victim’s aunt and uncle, Latricia Crawley and Benjamin Lockett ages 46 and 43 at the time of their arrests, were busted after law enforcement discovered they had been brutally abusing and torturing their 15-year-old niece for nearly a decade, police said.

According to a police report, Margate Police officers first responded to the couple’s home on Oct. 24 after the victim contacted her online instructor for assistance. They discovered a scene of horrifying abuse and learned that the child victim had been struck in the head with an object, causing a severe laceration requiring immediate medical attention. The victim was promptly transported to Broward Health Coral Springs for treatment.

Officers at the scene noted the presence of a locking mechanism on the outside of two closets within the home, with blood droplets inside one of the closets. The victim revealed that, for nearly a decade, she had been locked in those closets, sometimes bound with zip ties, provided with a bucket for basic needs, and subjected to various forms of torture.

The victim told officers that Crawley and Lockett–her legal guardians since 2014—would frequently pour cold water on her while she slept, and one ruthless punishment involved taping her eyes closed and dunking her head underwater, records show. Medical examinations revealed signs of malnutrition, with the victim’s nail beds reddening and visible bone outlines, especially around her spine, consistent with her account of being starved as a form of punishment.

The charges against Crawley and Lockett include multiple counts of aggravated child abuse.

In November, authorities arrested two other members of the Margate household: the victim’s sister, Shankyria Latricia Clayton, 20, and Horace Crawley. Clayton was charged with crimes, including aggravated child abuse.

As for Crawley, he allegedly failed to re-register as a sex offender, police said. He was previously convicted of attempted rape in New York, records show.

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Author Profile

Kevin Deutsch

Kevin Deutsch is an award-winning journalist and author of two nonfiction books. He covers general assignment news and Jewish community issues for Talk Media. He has also worked as a staff writer at The Miami Times, the Rio Grande SUN, the New York Daily News, Newsday, The Miami Herald, The Palm Beach Post, The Riverdale Press, and Bronx Justice News.