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Tabitha Tedder Sentenced To Prison In Century Family Child Neglect, Sexual Battery Case
January 31, 2023
Another member of a Century family has been sentenced to eight years in prison after several children that had been sexually abused were found living in squalor in two campers.
Last week, Tabitha Ann Tedder was sentenced to four years concurrently on three counts of child neglect without great bodily harm, and four additional years on a felony charge of failure to report child abuse. An additional charge of tampering in a felony first degree proceeding was dismissed.
Tabitha Tedder’s husband Norman Tracy Tedder was found incompetent to stand trial and ordered to Lakeview for competency training. He is due back in court in April.
In October, Michael Tracy Tedder was sentenced to 30 years in state prison for child sexual battery and designated as a lifetime sexual offender after he pleaded to multiple counts of sexual battery by a person in familian authority and lewd and lascivious exhibition in the presence of a minor.
Michael Tracy Tedder’s wife Elizabeth Mae Dennis was previously convicted of two counts of child neglect and sentenced to 19.5 months in state prison, with credit for 116 days served, to be followed by 18 months probation.
Some readers may find the following details disturbing. Reader discretion is advised.
On October 20, 2021, the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office responded to a local elementary school after a victim disclosed sexual abuse to a school counselor. The victim disclosed at school that she had been raped by Tedder. She stated that it hurt, and about the time she healed, he would do it again. The abuse occurred between January 1, 2020, and October 20, 2021.
During the course of the investigation, it was determined that Michael Tracy Tedder had sexually abused additional victims between January 1, 2020, and October 20, 2021. He was the only family member charged with a sexual offense.
“This defendant preyed on children that should have been able to trust him,” Carrie Gilmer, prosecuting attorney, said.
When the Escambia County Sheriff’s Office went to Tedder’s home to investigate the sexual battery allegations, deputies found Tedder and three others living in squalor with six children in two campers.
One camper was “extremely dirty”, with “raw sewage coming from the back side of the camper and flowing underneath the camper causing an unbearable foul odor”, and “hundreds of roaches”, according to an arrest report. The roaches were in the food cabinet, running over the food, on the stove, on the sink and on the counter.
A deputy further described the camper as having roaches inside the shower and toilet area, pots with old food in them on the kitchen counter, a sink filled with dirty dishes and a refrigerator he called “extremely nasty”. There was one full size bed, a let-down bed with roaches crawling on it, and a baby crib in the camper. Two cats and two dogs were inside, and there were power cords running through the camper and by the kitchen sink, the report states.
“The camper had a foul odor inside and out that was unbearable,” the deputy wrote in his report.
The other camper, described as being “extremely small,” was also roach infested, dirty and piled full of clothes and other items making it impossible to enter, the report states.
According to the ECSO, there was no electrical service on the property; the campers were powered by numerous electrical cords strung together to a nearby home. Some of the cords had bare wires in places and junctions exposed to the weather.
“The parents smelled as if they had not bathed in several days,” a deputy wrote in his report.
The Department of Children and Families removed the children.
Comments
17 Responses to “Tabitha Tedder Sentenced To Prison In Century Family Child Neglect, Sexual Battery Case”
I was the chief in Flomaton and I was going after this group. I went 100 yards into Florida to get one of these and I was arrested for kidnapping trying to protect the community I worked for. The town of Flomaton, mayor and council defended and took up for these people including the Florida Department of law enforcement (FDLE) who went to this residence to measure my distance into Florida. I thank the Lord these kids are ok and I’m thankful to him for what I went through because it made me better and showed me the goodness of people who were there for me.
Vicky
You should have reported it yourself if you knew
Tabitha you know your Parents raised you better. They would not let thar happened if they was around. You should have protect your granddaughter.and not let your son do that to her shame on you.
they should have all gotten life in prison… disgusting group of people.
ThomasG I did call I was one that called but it didn’t do any good. I tried to get them to do something but I guess this is one of those cases that slipped through the cracks
Them poor little children God bless them and keep them I pray they recover their hearts and minds from all this mistreatment.And I pray these adults don’t go a day without thinking what they did.I know that Norman’s parents sexual abused him as a child but that don’t give him any right to allow such to go on.He definitely needs to be given the punishment he deserves too.
Castrate him…. CUT.IT.OFF.
If your right hand causes you to sin, chop it off and throw it away! It is better to lose one part of your body, than for your whole body to be thrown into hell.
Matthew 5:30
About time for them all to disappear in prison for a while out of century..
Well gee Vicky, why didn’t you call then? Anyone can report abuse to DCF, why did you neglect the children if you knew so much better?
These people are pure evil to allow those children to suffer. They all knew what was going on. All the inmates will know their story. I don’t pity them but I’ll pray for those children.
Good riddance and hopefully ya learn something!!!!!
Everyone of them deserved life in prison. I will never believe that none of them knew this was going on and Norman Tedder will get his day in court to and hopefully prison. This is not justice, they give drug dealers more time than this. We have to stand up for our children because no one else is. At least they are off the streets for a while and the children will hopefully recover from all of this.
I hope an pray the kids get a better home for life.why didn’t cops report this before now?how can people live like this.breaks my heart for the kids.
There’s roaches in prison too… the 6 and 2 legged’ kind. They’ll be right at home.
8 years needs a life sentence for treating children like that is unreal hope they get what’s coming to them in prison
I feel some of this could have been prevented if law enforcement and DCF would have done a better job . How many times has the cops been there but they never called anyone or tried to get help for them kids I’m just saying why didn’t they do anything then because family members and other people called trying to get help for them children. Why didn’t Elizabeth Dennis get charged for 3 counts of child abuse and not 3 she has 3 children. This is a sad story all the way around. Just maybe know the children can get some comfort. Our sheriff department needs to step up on reporting abuse because they could have called someone months before this happened just saying.
Why do I hear dueling banjos???