Unity man charged with locking child in closet now accused of child rape
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A Unity man awaiting trial on charges of locking his 9-year-old son inside a closet and nailing it shut was arrested this week by state police, who accused him of raping a girl.
Shawn L. Waulk, 33, who was free on $25,000 unsecured bond on the 2020 complaint, was ordered to the county jail in the new case on $50,000 bond.
Waulk and his wife, Tammy Jo, 34, were charged Feb. 24 by state police with endangering the welfare of a child, false imprisonment and reckless endangerment. Both are awaiting trial, with their next court appearance scheduled Jan. 21 before Judge Tim Krieger, according to online court dockets.
Shawn Waulk now is charged with aggravated indecent assault, rape of a child and indecent assault of a person less than 13 years old.
Trooper David Wineland reported in court documents the new allegations arose in March as troopers were investigating the initial abuse allegations involving the boy when a girl under 6 told investigators Shawn Waulk recently assaulted her.
Wineland reported after the child disclosed the alleged incident, two unnamed witnesses corroborated her allegations, saying she told them Waulk “hurt her” while bathing her in 2019.
The girl was interviewed by Dr. Kevin Rua, a forensic interviewer for A Child’s Place, affiliated with UPMC Mercy, before the complaints were filed, Wineland said.
The couple originally was arrested after the county children’s bureau received a phone tip Feb. 23 that the boy “had been locked and barricaded in a closet screwed down by pieces of wood” for 11⁄2 hours while his parents attended a birthday party for a relative, Trooper Evan Terek said in court documents.
Terek reported the Waulks left the boy “unsupervised and trapped.” Children’s services investigators allege the couple locked the boy in the closet three times in February.
Child welfare officials removed three children from the Waulks and placed them with relatives after the allegations.
After the couple waived their case to Common Pleas Court for trial March 9, they maintained in a telephone interview with the Tribune-Review that they love their children and were hoping to one day reunite with them.
“We want people to know that we’re really not bad parents. We love our kids,” Shawn Waulk told the newspaper last year.
“I will tell you we both love them all, miss them and want them back. When we had our custody hearing, all of our children, including (the 9-year-old), were crying that they wanted to stay with us,” Shawn Waulk said in the phone interview.
Troopers alleged in court documents that the Waulks had used nails, screws, wood and a light cord string in an attempt to secure the door while the boy was locked inside.
The family’s attorney Matthew Schimizzi of Greensburg did not immediately return a call seeking comment.