A South Carolina couple has been sentenced to prison for abusing and failing to properly care for six of their children, according to the 14th Circuit Solicitor's Office.
Yulunda Mitchell, 53, of Bluffton, was sentenced to 10 years in prison after pleading guilty Tuesday to 11 counts of unlawful conduct toward a child in Beaufort County General Sessions Court, officials said.
Her husband, Herbert Bernard Mitchell, 58, was sentenced to four years in prison and also pleaded guilty to 11 counts of unlawful conduct toward a child.
“These children were routinely and wantonly abused, and they were threatened with yet more abuse when authorities began looking into their home situation,” prosecutor Hunter Swanson said. “Despite the threats, one of the older siblings finally disclosed what had been going on in the Mitchell’s home because he feared the youngest girl would not make it out of the house alive and he couldn’t live with that.
“He did a very brave thing. He might very well have saved their lives.”
The investigation began in 2016 when the children aged in range from 5 to 13.