A Marysville woman and her former longtime boyfriend were charged with second-degree assault Friday for allegedly engaging in a pattern of mistreatment, humiliation and physical torture involving three children, the eldest now 14.
Lou Ella McCombs, 34, already is jailed in Everett in lieu of $50,000 bail. Her former boyfriend, Raymond D. Lewellen, 48, is believed to be in Pennsylvania. He was being sought on an arrest warrant setting $100,000 bail.
The assault charge for both defendants focuses on a girl, now 12, but allegations also involve mistreatment of two boys, now 14 and 11.
The children have disclosed being regularly beaten and punished with harsh physical exercise and immersion in bathtubs filled with ice cubes, Snohomish County deputy prosecutor Lisa Paul said in Superior Court papers.
The children also allege they were forced to defecate on each other and engage in other humiliating acts involving body wastes and vomit, Paul wrote.
Lewellen has felony convictions including drug possession, burglary and theft in three states stretching back to 1974. He is described in court papers as having initiated much of the alleged abuse.
McCombs is accused with failing to halt the abuse.
"When confronted with the allegations of torture, McCombs wailed and sobbed loudly, then requested an attorney," Paul wrote.
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