STRATFORD, N.J. (1010 WINS) — Three New Jersey women are facing charges for allegedly forcing a 13-year-old girl to wear a dog shock collar while depriving her of adequate food and clothing for more than three years, according to officials.
Kelly Mennig, 42, Rebecca Mennig, 22, and Rachel Mennig, 20, have been charged with aggravated assault for their use of the shock collar, endangering the welfare of a child and child abuse and neglect, said the Camden County Prosecutor's Office.
According to the criminal complaint, a neighbor in Stratford, N.J., reported on March 1 seeing the 13-year-old girl, who ran away from home to her house, wearing the shock collar and called police. When officers responded, they observed that the child "had markings on her neck consistent with wearing the collar."
Officials said the girl was transported to Jefferson Stratford Hospital, where she was treated and removed by the Division of Child Protection and Permanency once she was medically cleared.
The victim reported to detectives that her sister, Rachel Mennig, had put the collar around her neck and "shocked her multiple times and has done this in the past."
According to the criminal complaint, the girl’s guardian, Kelly Mennig, later told detectives that she did not know the victim had run away from home nor that she was wearing a shock collar around her neck.
During a forensic interview on March 2 at the Camden County Advocacy Center, detectives spoke once again with the victim and revealed that her adopted sister, Rachel, first used the shock collar when she was 9 years old and in fourth grade.
She also disclosed accounts where Kelly and Rebecca Menning had used the shock collar "as forms of punishment" and detailed times where she was deprived of "appropriate amounts of food and clothing amenities."
In a subsequent interview, each of the women denied the victim's allegations of abuse. However, another resident of the home where the alleged abuse occurred told police that they saw the girl wearing the shock collar when she acted "bad" and witnessed the victim being deprived of food or amenities.
All three women are scheduled to make their first court appearance on Friday morning, a spokesperson for the Camden County Prosecutor's Office said.
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