Latest Headlines
- Merry Christmas! The Story Of The Greatest Gift Of All
- First Responders Put On Christmas Light Show For Children’s Hospital Patients (With Gallery)
- House Ethics Releases Scathing Report On Matt Gaetz
- Photos: Christmas Activities At Jim Allen Elementary
- Here’s The Christmas Closure And Trash Schedule You Need To Know
- Letters To Santa From Byrneville Elementary Third Graders
- Cause Of ‘Major’ Fire At Ascend Remains Under Investigation
- Letters To Santa From Byrneville Elementary Second Graders
- Fire Destroys Mobile Home Being Used For Storage Near McDavid
- Photos: Gingerbread House Day At Lipscomb Elementary
Fourth Family Member, Norman Tedder, Gets Prison Time In Century Child Abuse Case
May 30, 2024
A Century man previously found incompetent to stand trial has been sentenced to state prison on child abuse and robbery charges. He is the fourth member of a Century family sentenced to prison in connection with a 2021 child abuse case in which several children that had been sexually abused were found living in squalor in two campers.
Under a plea agreement, Tedder pleaded no contest and was convicted of two counts of child neglect without great bodily harm and one count of robbery with a firearm. He faced a maximum of life in prison if he had been convicted as charged.
He was sentenced to 60 months in state prison, with credit for 290 days time served while awaiting trial.
The robbery charge stemmed from a 2022 incident in which Tedder allegedly shot at a man at Tedder’s home and took several items from him. The incident happened outside Tedder’s home on old Flomaton Road, and authorities said he had the opportunity to leave the situation without firing a weapon.
Child Abuse Charges
The child abuse charges were from a 2021 case that has already sent three of Tedder’s family members to prison.
Noman Tedder’s wife, 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.
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 familial 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 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 Florida Department of Children and Families removed the children.
Comments
8 Responses to “Fourth Family Member, Norman Tedder, Gets Prison Time In Century Child Abuse Case”
They talk no one helped I’m a family member ashamed to say but the whole system failed them sweet children I seen first hand the filth. We called DCF they nothing. The Escambia Sherriff Department has been to their house repeatedly why didn’t they help them or call someone to help the kids but no they turned their heads so the whole system failed , and Tracey made a fool out of the Judge and the hole court system but they are where they need to be .., but Elizabeth Tedder should have gotten 30 years to just like Michael did she was there . I’m just glad the kids are safe now and have a clean home and environment.
They deserve a trip to Old Sparkee in Atmore Prison,,
The health and wellbeing of all children needs to be of real importance to everyone — and not just concern over what other parents’ children might or will cost us as future criminals or costly cases of government care, etcetera.
Sexual or otherwise, early-life abuse left unchecked typically causes the young child’s brain to improperly develop. It can readily be the starting point of a life in which the brain uncontrollably releases potentially damaging levels of inflammatory stress hormones and chemicals, even in otherwise non-stressful daily routines.
It can amount to non-physical-impact brain-damage abuse: It has been described as a continuous, discomforting anticipation of ‘the other shoe dropping’ and simultaneously being scared of how badly you will deal with the upsetting event, which usually never transpires.
The lasting emotional/psychological pain from such trauma is very formidable yet invisibly confined to within the brain/mind. Unlike an openly visible physical disability or condition that tends to elicit sympathy/empathy from others, mental trauma is solitarily suffered and can readily make each day an ordeal, unless the turmoil is prescription and/or illicitly medicated.
As a moral rule, a mentally as well as physically sound future should be every child’s fundamental right — along with air, water, food and shelter — especially considering the very troubled world into which they never asked to enter.
Take a good look at what you are dealing with or I should say dealt with !!! These people got away with this behavior for a long time and the damage they did probably can’t be fixed !! This is a prime example of for each one 1- chance 1- shot 1- time problem solved forever guaranteed!!!
If only the punishment for harming a child were death
They all had to know what was going on and them poor children had to suffer like that. They should get the same charges. These people have always lived nasty. They should get the same done to them as they done to them poor kids!
They should all be in prison for life.
God bless those children. They deserve a family that loves them with all their heart and soul as all children do.
thos SICKENS ME! Those children are all such sweet and loving babies and have been SO betrayed. I cannot EVER imagine doing my child so foul. Atleast ONE of these dirty folks shoulda had enough sense about them to put a stop to this nightmare! Praise God for the staff at “the school”