Deputies: Mom abused 7 children

Hillsborough Deputies have arrested a mother on multiple child abuse charges for using extension cords and a stun gun to disciple her five children along with two of her sisters' kids. The alleged abuse went unreported for five years.

Deputies say 31-year-old Stacey Joanna Horace once held one of the children underwater, threw urine on him and spat in his face.

But inside her Tampa apartment, investigators confiscated what they say were the tools of abuse for seven children between 11 months and ten years old: a stun gun, a hammer, a belt, along with extension cords and big wooden spoons.

"There were some very strong accusations by the children as far as discipline that had been taken on them over the last few years," said Major Rob Bullara of Hillsborough's Child Protection Unit.

Much of the evidence came from the children themselves.

"The justice side will see what is factual", Bullara says. "I mean, we've done our investigation and we're still continuing to investigate along with law enforcement as far as possible additional charges."

The seven children, who deputies say were bruised and scared, were placed with family members. They made the arrest at Child Protection's Falkenberg office after Horace came in for an interview.

Investigators won't say whether Horace cooperated or not, but they do say she eluded them for nearly two weeks after the initial complaint came in from a state hotline that is pumping 1,000 child abuse complaints to Hillsborough each month.

"And unfortunately", says Bullara, "as we talked about a thousand calls a month, unfortunately we're starting to see cases that are a little more horrendous, which probably relates to the times we're going through in this country."

Family members, unwilling to talk to reporters, called deputies instead. Horace was released from jail on $2,000 dollars bond, according to jail records.

FOX 13 was unable to reach Horace for comment.

Meanwhile, child abuse investigators say, in Hillsborough County alone, they are putting about 100 kids a month in foster care, even though they try to place abused kids with family members.