Parents charged with waterboarding girl, 12

Aliquippa couple’s whereabouts still unknown

A Beaver County couple have been charged with punishing their 12-year-old daughter by subjecting her to waterboarding, a simulated drowning technique that has been condemned by the United Nations as a form of torture.

Dion Stevens, 33, and Malisa Stevens, 41, face several felony charges. They left their home on Main Street in Aliquippa after a police investigation began in May.

District Attorney David Lozier said Tuesday that he expects the couple to turn themselves in soon to authorities.

“Their attorney is in communication with the officer who has filed the charges and they’re scheduling a date and time to turn themselves in,” Mr. Lozier said.

Aliquippa police were alerted in April to the incident after a referral was made to ChildLine, the state’s child-abuse hotline.

On May 11, a caseworker from Beaver County Children & Youth Services told police that the couple “openly admitted” to her that they had “waterboard(ed)” their daughter because they were punishing her, according to a police affidavit.

The child told police that in November she was taken by her parents into the basement, where she was seated in a black folding chair, her hands bound together with packaging tape behind the chair back.

“A wet towel was then placed over her face. She was then tilted backwards with her feet off the ground and a bucket of cold water was poured over her covered face,” the affidavit said.

The child said she was “screaming and panicking and trying to get loose from the chair,” and all the while it was difficult to breathe because of the wet towel over her face, according to the affidavit. She said her father told her they learned the waterboarding technique from a movie, police said.

Police obtained a search warrant on May 24 and, while executing the warrant and collecting

evidence that included a black folding chair, the couple admitted they had waterboarded their daughter, according to the affidavit.

A formal interview was scheduled with the couple for the next day, but police said the couple did not appear and did not return phone calls. Their whereabouts on Tuesdaywere unknown.

Aliquippa police did not return a phone call Tuesday.

The alleged victim was taken into custody by child protective service social workers and is now in foster care, according to court documents.

Charges filed Sept. 27 include strangulation, aggravated assault, unlawful restraint, endangering the welfare of children and recklessly endangering another person.

Asked about the monthslong span between the start of the probe and the filing of the charges, Mr. Lozier said, “It’s a matter of the needs of law enforcement. It was an extended investigation with complex legal questions on the charges.”

Neither of the Stevenses has a criminal record in Pennsylvania.