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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Throw the book at them and a few bullets too while you are at it!!! Load them in a gun first, please. Can you say firing squad.
How can mother do that to her own child? She needs to die and the POS step father needs to die. The world will be a better place.
Let me guess: the kid had h0m0s-xual tendencies, and the parents were "fixing" him
Sounds like the alpha male felt threatened by a 12 year old.
Lock 'em up. Wouldn't it be nice if we could impose exactly the same penalty on them that they imopsed upon this kid?
I am sure that this sorry excuse for a human being will assume the same position he put his step-son in when he is in prison where he belongs. That smug arrogant look will be wiped off his face too.
like
I hope this 'father' goes to prison and gets beaten within an inch of his life on a daily basis. How can people like this exist.
While he is in prison may he become the "girlfriend" of his 400 pound cellmate, nicknamed Big Mike.
When the poor die young, and grandparents are not around, then there is nobody to say, hey, where is my grandson? I want to know where the grandparents were, or other relatives, or friends. I can't believe that nobody knew there was another child. This is the kind of thing that happens in serious food shortages: serious abuse. These parents are monsters, but I hope that the boy turns out all right. But what a thing to have to walk away from!
High praise for Sgt. Gonzales. Great that he has a "watchful eye and experience" but I believe he has a more outstanding quality......compassion.
Both these "parents" should be strung up by their toes until they die.
Just evil!! How can they do this to their own son!!!?? Those monsters need the book thrown at them!
They are from Georgia. What can you expect? I doubt they can even read or write.
Jess, what is your point? To show your stupidity through stereotyping? I'm from Georgia; used to live in the same county, in fact, and I have a Ph.D. You are only making yourself look ignorant.
Both are being held without opportunity for bail, pending an October 4 hearing.
Without an opportunity for bail? This should happen more often!
Sick, twisted and a waste of space. Why do some people have kids, they are not puppies you can keep on the back porch when you get tired of them.
So hearbreaking... God bless all children especially the neglected and abused ones... May they find hope and a better future in new homes and families that will love and protect them the rest of their lives...How on earth did these parents turn into cruel and inhuman beings incapable of love and compassion for the innocent and the helpless? How? So sad knowing there's so many of them out there...
Did I miss it? Was he home schooled or what? Otherwise wouldn't state officials had gotten involved while he was still a minor?
This is Georgia we're talking about.
Why oh why people that are the most fertile are also some of the worst parents
This is just unfathomable and sickening. I hope the young man overcomes this all and leads a happy, successful life. My heart goes out to him and his sisters.
Does anyone else think this guy resembles Mick Jagger?