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Prichard Police Look For Child Abuse Suspect

By Steve Alexander Reporter

They want to charge him with abusing five month old twins. Prichard Police Look For Child Abuse Suspect

Published: Wed, October 01, 2008 - 7:42 pm Last Updated: Wed, October 01, 2008 - 8:42 pm

Steve Alexander

Prichard Police are asking for your help in connection with a horrifying discovery.
Five month old twins are suffering from broken bones and cigarette burns.
Tuesday afternoon, police arrested 25 year old Marketa Sharpe on first degree child abuse, child neglect and child endangerment charges.
They have have also been looking for 28 year old Larry West.
They say he is Sharp's boyfriend and they want to file the same charges against him.
Detectives say police arrested Sharpe after she brought the twins to USA Children's and Women's Hospital Tuesday night.
Prichard Police Chief Lawrence Battiste said, "It appears to be an ongoing type of abuse and, in this case in particular, I think that the injuries were just severe enough that they had to go to the hospital."
Specifically, police say the girl has three broken ribs, two fractured vertebrae, and broken bones in both legs and arms.
They say the boy has has two broken ribs, a broken bone in his leg, and cigarette burns to the bottom of his feet.
Battiste said, "I just can't imagine how someone could be as brutal as they can be to infants."
Pat Guyton with the Child Advocacy Center says the children probably suffered horrible pain.
Guyton said, "What's upsetting is it happened again, and again, and again."
Prichard officials say Marketa Sharpe lives on Azan Avenue.
News Five tried to talk to a number of people on the street, but they either said they didn't know Sharpe or didn't want to talk about her.
Pat Guyton also said everyone needs to watch for injuries to children.
He said, "People, please, need to report any suspected cases of child abuse."
The children are now in the custody of the Department of Human Resources.
If you suspect children you know have been abused, call the department at 479-4616.
If you know where Larry West is, call Prichard Police.

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mustuknow Says:

Sat, Oct 04, 2008 at 12:09 am

I read that the boyfriend had been arrested and jailed now too! I hope WKRG will do a follow up on this story and let us know how these children are doing. I understand privacy rights and all but it would be nice to hear what happens with these little angels. I hope those responsible for the injury to these little ones will burn in HE!! for what they have done.

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The wife Says:

Fri, Oct 03, 2008 at 4:02 pm

Please let us know how the babies are doing. My prayers are with both of these precious little innocent angels.

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mustuknow Says:

Thu, Oct 02, 2008 at 9:58 pm

What is so horriffic is the amount of force or the ways in which these poor childrens bones had to be bent to be broken. Infants have very flexible bones and to be able to break multiple bones in their little bodies and to be able to break vertebraes and ribs of these little angels is just barbaric. I hope anyone who knows where this LARRY WEST is will turn him into authorities so that he can become someones girlfriend and rag doll in a jail cell.

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curious2008 Says:

Thu, Oct 02, 2008 at 10:11 am

How can anyone do this to a baby or they monsters without a heart, what’s the deal? They should let someone do the same thing to these people that they have done to these babies. I wonder how they would like to have cigarettes stuck to their feet and beat up and tossed around like a rag doll.

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