A Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue lieutenant and his wife arrested for allegedly locking their 12-year-old adopted daughter for years inside a room at their Coral Springs home are now facing more serious charges and additional counts involving their other children, records showed.
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Joel Christopher Kohnert, 44, and Jennifer Renee Kohnert, 45, were arrested back in March on child abuse without great bodily harm charges.
The couple was back in court on Monday as prosecutors upgraded the charges to aggravated child abuse, which carries a maximum sentence of up to 30 years in prison if convicted.
Prosecutors have also filed five additional counts, including one alleging child neglect involving their adopted daughter, and four involving their biological children, who were between the ages of 3 and 12 at the time investigators said the alleged crimes occurred.
Police said the investigation began after the couple’s 12-year-old adopted daughter told school staff she had been locked in a bedroom for years with no way out, forced to urinate and defecate in the room before cleaning it herself, and made to write Bible verses as a form of punishment.
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Defense attorneys claim it was a misunderstanding of their religious beliefs, but the arrest report said the adopted girl was the only one of the seven kids who endured the abuse.
In court Monday, a judge left the couple’s bond unchanged at $100,000 but ordered that they remain on GPS monitoring and reaffirmed that they can’t have contact with any of the minor children unless permitted by the dependency court.
BSO officials said Joel Kohnert is currently on administrative leave without pay.
The next hearing in the case is scheduled for Aug. 20, with the trial tentatively scheduled for Aug. 31, though that date is likely to change.
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The couple will be tried together, and both have pleaded not guilty.