A gaunt 18-year-old Georgia man told California police his stepfather had banished him and sent him on a cross-country bus ride after the stepfather had confined him to a room for four years, authorities said.
The confinement allegedly was so thorough, Mitch Comer's two younger sisters – living in the same home – hadn't seen the teen for the last two years, and he says he hadn't been outdoors in at least that amount of time, Paulding County (Georgia) Sheriff's Cpl. Ashley Henson said.
The teen's stepfather and mother were arrested in Dallas, Georgia, last week after a retired Los Angeles police officer found the teen wandering an L.A. bus station, weighing under 100 pounds at just over 5 feet tall, and looking like he was 12 or 13, the L.A. Police Department said.
Paul M. Comer, 48, and the teen's mother, Sheila M. Comer, 39, both of Dallas, Georgia, were charged last week with cruelty to children relating to alleged abuse during Mitch Comer's minor years, Henson said. Both are being held without opportunity for bail, pending an October 4 hearing.
"The information we have is … the neighbors didn't even know there was a boy living in the home," Paulding County District Attorney Dick Donovan told "CNN Newsroom" on Friday.
The investigation started on September 11 when retired LAPD Sgt. Joe Gonzales, working security at an L.A. Greyhound bus station, called police after mistaking Mitch Comer for a child wandering the station alone, police said.
The teen told officers that Paul Comer had kicked him out of his Georgia home because he had just turned 18. Comer drove him to a Jackson, Mississippi, bus station, gave him $200 and information on Los Angeles homeless shelters that he gleaned from the Internet, put him on a bus and told him never to return, authorities said.
The teen also told investigators he was abused at home for the last four years, saying that after Comer removed him from school in the eighth grade, he was confined to a room and given small amounts of food daily.
He also said he was forced to "assume a grueling disciplinary position every day for eight hours, with the top of his head against a wall, his fingers interlaced behind his head and his feet raised off the ground," the L.A. Police Department said.
"He saw the mom and the (stepfather), but he hadn't seen the sisters for two years," Henson said.
Mitch Comer told investigators he lived mostly in Georgia, though the family moved to Arizona and perhaps other places before returning.
After Los Angeles police contacted Paulding County authorities, Paul and Sheila Comer were arrested, and the teen's sisters – ages 13 and 11 – were put into protective custody, Henson said.
One of Donovan's investigators flew to Los Angeles and escorted the teen back to Georgia, where a family volunteered to take him in "until we can get things moving or … find a better placement," Donovan said.
"According to my investigator whom I sent to L.A. to pick him up and take him home, he is a very sweet, very polite young man who loves to read, and who said that his greatest desire is to just live a normal life," Donovan told "CNN Newsroom."
Henson said the charges against Paul and Sheila Comer relate only to the 18-year-old. Investigators have yet to speak to the girls in-depth, Henson said.
Sheila Comer's attorney, Renee Rockwell of Atlanta, said Friday that her client will plead not guilty. She said that she couldn't say a lot about the case yet.
"The investigation is just starting. I'm sure there's a lot that is going to come out sooner or later, just a lot of facts that have yet to be disclosed to the public," Rockwell said Friday.
Paul and Sheila Comer have not had any contact with each other since the arrests, Rockwell said.
A call to the office of Paul Comer's attorney, W. Scott Smith of Atlanta, wasn't immediately returned Friday.
The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation are among the agencies investigating the case, Henson said.
Henson said his department wants to give "all the credit to retired Sgt. Gonzales" and the Los Angeles Police Department for flagging the case.
"Without (Gonzales') watchful eye and his experience, (Mitch Comer) might never have been found, and he might not have survived," Henson said.
– CNN's Brooke Baldwin contributed to this report.
© 2012 Cable News Network. Turner Broadcasting System, Inc. All Rights Reserved.
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That Dad should be forced to make that same position (the top of his head against a wall, his fingers interlaced behind his head and his feet raised off the ground) for the rest of his life. What a horrible excuse for a human being
Solitary confinment, put them in, lose the key.
So should the mother. She will probably get probation since the women usually walk.
Some people should be nuetered before they can procreate. Disgusting cpl of people.
That poor young man. My heart bleeds for him, those so called parents should serve life in prison at the very least!!
Not a single comment on this sad story? Public flogging is to good for these freak parents.
Sorry, for some reason, my computer did not show these.
Drag them into the gutter, where they belong, and then flog them.
Plenty of comments...good to see there aren't any in support of these people -don't want to call them parents.
This is a terrible story and thank God this young man seems well adjusted in spite of the horror he experienced. My wishes and prayers for your future happiness and good mental health young man.
How do you plead? I KNEW YOU'D SAY THAT!
Unbelievable. . . How many more of these real life stories have to surface. Fact is stranger than fiction.
Why do people do this? My god, it's disgusting.
Oh, this poor kid...I sincerely hope for a better future for him, and I sincerely hope that these two "people" get what they so richly deserve.
I pray that this boy grows into a happy, healthy, prosperous man who finds a family who will love him and help him to heal and forgive...not that this sorry excuse for parents deserve forgiveness but because forgiveness will allow him get past the trauma of his youth and never give his parents a second thought...I also hope that when they find themselves in their own prison cells that their punishment truly fits their crimes...
I can sort of understand (but not condone) the stepfather's abusive rejection and possible jealousy of
a step-child who is not his flesh and blood – seems to happen all too often, but I simply can't fathom how
the mother stood by and watched her own son being treated like this.
A man who is jealous of of a child is not mature enough to marry and have children of his own.
How do you live with yourself torturing a boy day in and day out? Barely feeding? Forced isolation? Taken out of school? Forced to stand against the wall for 8 hours a day? This guy or mother better never see the light of day themselves. I guarantee those girls were abused as well.
Sic! Disgusting! Hope these two NEVER get out of prison!
This is A-W-F-U-L and I am appalled! OMG SO SAD!!! So messed up
Makes me sick.
I bet they are Christians
What's your point???
and bet you they collect welfare checks
Yeah, and I'll bet they vote Republican.
See how STUPID sterotypes are?
That is one of the most STUPID comments I have ever heard!
Bigot. I guess you looked in your crystal ball for that one.
It is much more likely this guy is a paranoid meth head control freak, has paranoid schizophrenia, or some other mental illness.
Other media reports are saying the creep never let the wife outside without him. Neighbors state he even accompanied the woman to the mailbox, so it is probable she was just as much a prisoner in her home as the kids. I will bet the girls have never been enrolled in school because he has been abusing them in a different way. He saw this male child as a future threat to his domination of them.
People like that will use religion as a tool, but they do not really believe in it. Unbelievers, no matter what they profess.
I bet they abuse their children.