Bryan And Tonya Ricks Sentenced For Starving Teenage Son And Depriving Him Of Medical Attention

A Colorado Springs couple found in 2009 to have starved their teenage son until he weighed 37 pounds was sentenced Monday afternoon. Bryan and Tonya Ricks were each sentenced to 25 years in prison for child abuse resulting in serious bodily injury and failure to provide medical attention.

The Ricks were found to have left their son untreated with a seizure disorder for five years leading up to 2009. The boy suffered from as many as 12 seizures a day which doctors say, compounded by malnutrition, left him bedridden, unable to support his own body weight, and incapable of speech.

According to KKTV the boy was found by a family friend in his own urine and feces.

The Gazette reports the boy and his five sisters were removed from the home in late 2009. The Ricks had home-schooled their children but the children were unable to grip a pencil and did not know how to use a toothbrush.

Court documents state the Ricks's home had "limited furniture [and] little to no bedding for the children ... neither bathroom contained... toilet paper, hand towels... or anything else which would be used to clean up after showering/toileting."

Defense attorneys had requested both Bryan and Tonya receive 10 year sentences. The maximum sentence would have been 32 years, reports Fox 21.

The children are in a foster home and will likely be adopted by the foster family. Reginald Short of the District Attorney's office told KRDO, "I think ultimately what we can say is the children are in a better place at this point."

Comments

[thats what you get]

06:48 PM on 12/06/2011

people like this just need to be killed! anyone who can hurt a child deserves to die!!! i dont care death is the only sure fire way to stop it from happening again.

[JessM237w]

11:47 AM on 11/08/2011

Hopefully the prison they're in doesn't provide them with toilet paper, tooth brushes, showers, or bedding. Perhaps after they're given a 300 calorie per day diet will they even begin to grasp what inhumane people they are....Gross. I've always believed that people who treat children or others in a manner that makes them suffer should be treated the same exact way for the same amount of time. Period.

[DianaLynn1967]

11:44 AM on 11/08/2011

"Reginald Short of the District Attorney's office told KRDO, 'I think ultimately what we can say is the children are in a better place at this point.'" Understatement of the year.

[Ayngel Overson]

01:57 AM on 11/08/2011

Well I should hope the children are in a better place... I can't imagine much worse. So, as punishment the couple will be treated better than their children ever were. Prison is too good for them, really.

[AudreyLee]

08:48 PM on 11/01/2011

37 seven pounds? Oh, that's awful :( Most teenage boys weigh 4 or 5 times that. Those poor kids, that makes me sick. Those people should get the maximum sentence.

[Michel t]

08:10 PM on 10/30/2011

While in prison, I think they should be on a 1,000 calories a day diet... I'm sure they won't mind...

[AudreyLee]

08:46 PM on 11/01/2011

Make it 500.

[kclz2420]

05:50 AM on 10/29/2011

It's not only bad that things like this happen - how did it take PEOPLE, namely school administrators, social workers, concerned friends and family, and neighbors so long to LEARN about this????

[jack Winn]

06:03 PM on 10/30/2011

It looks like they weren't in school. Whatever friends & family there were may have been birds of the same feather.

[caprawalie]

04:01 PM on 10/28/2011

It is about time flogging should be made part of the sentence for such crimes...crimes against children like this are worse than murder

[carolo]

11:55 AM on 10/28/2011

OK.... Read again. 25 years is more like it!

[carolo]

11:54 AM on 10/28/2011

10 years? These children suffered for longer than that. This was attempted murder of more than one child. They deserved far more than they were given!

[Nelsene McGinn]

10:56 AM on 10/28/2011

25 years? What about life? Too bad that they can't be forced to live in the same conditions as they put those poor children through.

[enteravalon]

10:23 AM on 10/28/2011

And realize this... they got caught, but after how long? Think of the many other children out there under similar circumstances - but the parents are just better at covering it up...

I believe that parents need to have a license to have children. And just like a drivers license, it would have to be renewed periodically. And in order to do so, you would have to meet minimum requirements of eligibility.

[Ayngel Overson]

02:01 AM on 11/08/2011

Careful there, every time I say that someone starts complaining about their rights. Then we have to explain that having the rights does not free one from responsibilities. :)

[Howit Tiz]

09:59 AM on 10/28/2011

Exposing the dark underbelly of "home schooling".

[Rebelchef42]

01:33 PM on 10/28/2011

These people are the exception not the rule. Most people that home school there kids want there kids to have the best education possible. Today's public schools do not offer a decent education they give the basics that is it and a lot of kids still graduate from high school with out knowing how to read or write.

[jack Winn]

06:00 PM on 10/30/2011

I have a very hard time believing that there are more than a dozen parents prepared to teach all the subjects necessary to a usual college course, eg UCal. Languages, calculus, sports, physical and biological sciences, etc. To say nothing of learning to deal with peers who are seriously different from them.

Unless you have regular beatdowns & firefights in your local schools, I don't see it.

[Howit Tiz]

01:40 AM on 10/29/2011

sorry that's not been my experience, but I'm just a simple country doctor.

[jack Winn]

06:01 PM on 10/30/2011

I'm interested in what you see, pls see my comment above.

[KatelynnH]

01:47 AM on 10/28/2011

Absolutely sickening. People like this need not procreate! Seriously! Those poor children. I'm sure the parents were probably trying to just kill the poor boy in a not so obvious manner! I pray he gets better and the kids are all adopted by people who will LOVE them! With every article I read of disgusting acts such as this, I just continue to wonder what is really going wrong with these people in today's world? So many are so sick-minded! I say they should be punished in the manner they did and see how they like it. Call me heartless, but people that do stuff like THIS deserve it.

[DianaLynn1967]

11:53 AM on 11/08/2011

You're not heartless. Even if intellectually some people would disagree with you, on the emotional level, most of us feel exactly the way you do. I personally believe the parents are sociopaths, completely lacking in conscience and empathy. Prison is too good for them, but we live in a civilized society, so prison it will be.

[Bills Catz]

12:42 AM on 10/28/2011

25 years, eh. Okay let em both get down to 50lbs each before they get any food, seems fair enough.