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Caregiver accused of using electric weapon on school children

KISSIMMEE, Fla. — A caregiver in Kissimmee was arrested on child abuse charges after she was accused of using an electric weapon to punish children, authorities said.

Investigators said a 9-year-old girl from Sunrise Elementary School told officials that whenever she and her brothers, aged 7 and 8, got into trouble their caregiver Letina Smith would "come up to them with an electrical weapon and activate it and touch them with it, and that it hurt very much and they were afraid of it."

The children claimed that Smith, 41, would use a pink rectangular-shaped, two-pointed device that had electricity flowing between the points and would touch them with it when they misbehaved, police said.

A police report said the children would be put into an "electric chair" if they got into trouble.

Police said Smith admitted having an electric weapon and said she would activate it and hold it a few inches from the children, but would not touch them with it.

Smith, who is charged with three counts of child abuse, was booked into the Osceola County Jail where she is being held on a $3,000 bond for those charges. Jail records indicate that she is also being held on a no-bond status on an out-of-county warrant.