Special Report - from TBO.com



	John and Linda Dollar
	Couple Charged With Torturing Adopted Children A former Hillsborough County couple accused of torturing their children, including locking them in a closet, starving them and pulling their toenails off with pliers, were arrested in Utah and will be extradited to Citrus County. John Dollar, 58, and his wife, Linda, 51, allegedly forced five of their adopted children - 14-year-old twin boys, two girls ages 12 and 13, and the 16-year-old - to sleep in a closet in the master bedroom so their parents could keep an eye on them.

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Name: John Dollar, 58
John Dollar and his wife, Linda are accused of using cattle prods, pliers, vises and starvation to torture five of their seven children. DCF officials said the Dollars had been licensed as foster parents in Hillsborough County from March to October 1995. Documents show the family was no longer in Florida's foster care system when they left the state. A warrant charges the Dollars with one count each of aggravated child abuse involving the children, all of whom were adopted.

Name: Linda Dollar, 51
Linda Dollar wrote in a 1995 DCF application that she left home at age 16 because of an alcoholic and abusive father. She also wrote that her first marriage ended because of abuse. The Dollars kept a low profile in recent years and lived in relative seclusion, moving in August to Beverly Hills in north Citrus. Their adopted 16-year-old son weighed 59 pounds when hospitalized Jan. 21 in Citrus County, which started an investigation, officials said. Twin boys, 14, subsequently were found to weigh 36 and 38 pounds. Two girls, 13 and 12, also were severely undernourished.

Source: The Tampa Tribune, The Associated Press, News Channel 8
Online Producer: Vidisha Priyanka of TBO.com