SOUTH JERSEY (KYW Newsradio) — A Gloucester Township couple has been accused of holding their child captive and sexually abusing her for years.
Investigators said an 18-year-old broke out of a home in Gloucester Township on May 8 and sought help from a neighbor. She reported that she had been held captive there since 2018. According to the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office, the girl’s mother, Brenda Spencer, 38, pulled her out of school after sixth grade.
“The victim stated that she was forced to live in a dog crate for approximately one year and let out only periodically. The victim also advised that she was forced to live in a padlocked bathroom while being chained up,” said Camden County Prosecutor Grace MacAulay.
According to MacAulay, the girl said she was only allowed out of the bathroom when family came to visit. After that, she said she was kept in an empty room with only a bucket for a toilet and an alarm on the door to alert her mother.
The girl’s stepfather, Branndon Mosley, 41, is accused of sexually assaulting her during this time. Both Spencer and Mosley face an extensive list of charges, including kidnapping, aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of a child and, for Mosley, aggravated sexual assault.
“To me this is the most abhorrent, heinous crime anyone can commit,” MacAulay said. “You see criminals all over the country doing horrific horrible acts, whether physical or sexual abuse. When it comes at the hands of a parent to a child, there’s nothing worse.”
Investigators later learned Spencer pulled a 13-year-old daughter out of school years earlier as well. Detectives found the home in squalid conditions with animals and filth everywhere when they came to serve a warrant.
Spencer and Mosley are both being held in Camden County Jail pending a detention hearing Friday.