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Cantonment Man Gets 35 Years In ‘Heart-Wrenching’ Child Abuse Case
July 18, 2017
A Cantonment man was sentenced Monday to state prison in a child abuse case that Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan called “heart-wrenching” and one of the worst he has ever seen.
Jeffrey Scott Linton was sentenced to 35 years in state prison for aggravated child abuse and multiple counts of child neglect by Judge Thomas Dannheisser. His wife, Rachel Watkins Linton, is awaiting trial on the charges against her.
“It is one of those things that bring tears to your eyes to think that a child would be treated in this manner,” Morgan said during press conference following the couple’s arrest in May 2016. He said there were nine total children in the home – eight biologically belonging to Rachel Linton, one the biological child of Jeffrey Linton. The charges filed relate to the three youngest of the children.
All of the children have been removed from the home.
The investigation began after the Department of Children and Families received an anonymous tip. That led to the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office opening an investigation and executing a search warrant at the couple’s Cantonment home.
The allegations against the Lintons span the period August 2015 to May 23, 2016, according to an arrest report obtained by NorthEscambia.com.
EDITOR’S NOTE: The remainder of this story details some of the severe physical child abuse allegations in this case. There are details that some readers will find disturbing.
The report indicates that one of the victims suffered a broken leg and then a broken arm caused by one of the siblings, and that Rachel Linton did not feed or bathe the children or take them to medical appointments. Two of the victims were born prematurely and are developmentally delayed.
DCF received a tip that Rachel Linton was planning to flee the area and has a history of fleeing when she is under investigation.
DCF received a report that two victims had injuries to their faces and heads, and Rachel Linton took the victims to West Florida Hospital where a trauma survey found that one victim had two broken arms and a broken leg and all three victims were malnourished.
The report says Rachel Linton frequently hits the victims’ heads on the walls and that Jeffrey Linton also abuses them. Rachel Linton threatened the children with further punishment if they provided any information to DCF about the ongoing abuse in the home. Both allegedly told the children to blame their injuries on the other children in the home.
One child allegedly suffered a broken arm as the result of Jeffrey Linton twisting an arm. DCF discovered the children had multiple bruises on their faces, back and arms, and that the children had knots on the back and tops of their heads. They suffered a variety of other injuries, including an abscess on the bottom of a foot, scarring and scabbing of lips, scarring of a nose, lacerations to their ears and bruising to their genital areas.
A witness alleged that Jeffrey Linton would hold the victims upside down by their feet and hit their heads on the floor as punishment and that he would hit them with a paddle “2-3 feet long” and throw them and slam their heads against a wall, and he would allegedly hit them with a fly swatter.
The witness said the paddle is now broken from use, and that she would hear the children cry and scream in pain.
Comments
30 Responses to “Cantonment Man Gets 35 Years In ‘Heart-Wrenching’ Child Abuse Case”
I don’t get it…why did the “witness” do nothing to stop it or report it . This is so horrific that children suffered so much. 35 years seems like a light sentence to me…Hope she gets her punishment too…same amount if not more in years in prison…
@Mike Amerson & Bill— In today’s day no word has to get out. They know who you are and what your coming for long before you get there.
Its pretty ironic about that code . Any kind of crime against women or children is a no no. They will indeed make lots of memories during their stay. I doubt either of them see freedom again.
This story kept me awake for hours. Thinking about what those sweet children endured is incomprehensible.
Why anyone harms a child is something I’ll never understand.
I’ve spent more than half my life as a public school teacher and I have loved all my kids (students), even the little stinkers.
I pray that these children find loving homes.
The devil has a special place waiting on these 2. Dont focus on the amount of years they got, they will have to answer to the Higher power when their time comes.
This is not justice. There is no good in any human that is capable of these things.
Punishment has already started for the man. They had to go to great effort to simply remove the hat the fellow hasn’t taken off even for sleep or a bath since he was 18, must have took a jack hammer to pry that thing off!
I need to say once again the system has failed these children it happens every where why weren’t these children taken away way back in August seriously these children have suffered enough I pray they get placed in loving homes together this is just heart breaking and I hope both parents rot in prison with daily beatings they truly don’t deserve to be alive
I pray that these children will be placed in homes that love them and that they will never be forced to see these monsters again.
Both people need to be tortured
this physically made me sick…I sure hope our judicial system will never let these two mongrels ever come near children again…Please dear Lord help these children overcome these horrendous acts.
They should bring back public hangings for people like this
Let’s have a public beating with both of them tied to a tree stump. This trash doesn’t deserve to breathe. Donnie
This scum gets a mere 35 yr sentence and no charges yet for her. I am a strong advocate of terminating reproductive rights of child abusers. Why is it legal for trash like these to be able to continue to bear children when they have no desire for the babies except as objects of their demented acts of abuse?
Lets beat them like they beat those poor kids .
This is the most horrendous account of child abuse I have ever read! My heart is broken for these children!!! These two animals should receive capital punishment for this. These children will deal with this abuse for a lifetime – I pray for them to receive the help they need and please, please, please find loving, caring homes for them in which to recover. My love and prayers to the children and to those who will be helping them.
Both of these sick individuals should be mandatorily sterilized- and, designated as lifetime “child non-sexual predators”- (if this isn’t a catagorie, it should be)….they should NEVER be in custodial care or be a habitant with a child again. Eventually, realistically… they’ll get out of prison- this, assuming that she is tried/convicted also….you’ve got to think long-term with these two.
YOU KNOW THIS PERSON MIKE AMERSON IS RIGHT THE MINUTE THE WORD GETS OUT IN PRISON IT GONNA BE A BAD BAD LIFE FOR THESE PEOPLE EVERYDAY IF THEY MAKE IT !!!!!!!
Pat I totally agree with you. All the judges think about is reunification. Weather it is good for the children or not. So many children get put back in neglectful and abusive homes just because a parent completed a court ordered case plan
It is a sad situation. An abused animal has more protection than an abused child. If you abuse your animal you can be put in jail and never be allowed to have another one. That is how it should be if you abuse and neglect a child
This breaks my heart!!! These sweet, innocent babies will have lasting scars from what their parents did!!! May God Bless them with a loving family that can help them!!!! My husband and I lost our oldest son in an automobile accident almost a two years ago, and what we wouldn’t do to have him back!!! Why would you hurt your babies???? People like this need to be done the same way they done these precious babies!!!
I thought I took the trash to the street this morning ,but I guess I didn’t get all of it.
Breaks my heart. I only pray that the children are in a more stable, loving environment and getting the help they need.
Couldn’t even read the entire article. I’d like to have 5 min. Alone in a locked room with these two.
Yes it should be a capital crime! They committed murder of their children’s childhood; a time that should be innocent, happy & joyful, comforting, nourishing, safe, & full of GOOD FAMILY MEMORIES! Thank God the witness made the call or it may have been much worse! God help these babies!
The Fla dept of children and families needs to be reworked, these people are not doing enough to help abused and neglected children , they are focused on , trying to keep these families together abused or not,
Where is the help for children such as these? All of that abuse and no one noticed a thing? I would rather make a call and be proved dead wrong than to let children suffer for one more day.
They should both get prison and never be allowed around children.And why DCF let this abuse go on for six months.No child should be left in an abuseive home that long.
Those morons should be tortured. They are useless.
It definitely should be recognized as a CAPITAL CRIME….these two are HORRENDOUS excuses for human beings. What they did to those innocent little ones is INEXCUSABLE. i totally agree with the other two comments. Blessings on those little chlldren that they heal without permanent damage from these two.
Nope, don’t kill them. Prison life will treat them just fine. Believe it or not, the other prisoners do have a code and child abuse isn’t on the “can do” list. Both of them will be on the “you will do this to me” the rest of their life in there. They both need to hope they live through it.
Should be a capital crime to hurt an innocent. They both deserve to die or stay in for life. Vermin.