7-year-old Massachusetts boy starved, forced to bleach floors

Hardwick, MA — A Massachusetts man is now facing multiple charges for what he's accused of doing to his seven year old son.

Randall Lints, 26, of Hardwick, was arrested Tuesday night on abuse allegations that are too painful for many nearby parents to bear.

"I'm very upset about this I hope he's okay," said neighbor Dawn Johnson.

"I'm very upset about it," said Pat Langley who lives in the apartment a floor bellow Lints.

According to court documents, a 7-year-old Hardwick boy was brought to Baystate Mary Lane Hospital in Ware with burns and bruises, weighing 38 lbs.

Doctors said the average 7-year-old's weight is nearly 50 lbs.

The child had lost some 12 to 15 lbs. in just a few months. Police were called to the home last Tuesday when the boy was found unresponsive.

"I saw an ambulance take a child out of the apartment," said Langley.

The responding state trooper wrote in his report, "Lints has a history of limiting the child's consumption of food and liquids. The injuries to his skin in areas of his knees and hands are healing and a result of bleach exposure."

Police said it was a painful effect of the father's obsession with having his kid clean the floors.

10-year-old neighbor Isabella Johnson rides the bus with the boy.

"He told me he scrubs the floor...sometimes in the wintertime he was really cold he didn't have a lot of clothes," said Johnson.

Neighbors report not seeing the child since the end of school last month.

Those who live on the floor below him told Western Mass News they've heard Lints yell but had no idea there was alleged abuse taking place.

"I was unaware of any abuse I didn't hear anything really other than one time that he yelled at a child," said Langley.

Lints now faces charges of assault and battery on a child with substantial injury, permitting substantial injury to a child, reckless endangerment and permitting injury to a child.

Hardwick police said they're working with DCF on the investigation.

Meantime, Lints is due back in East Brookfield district court Friday to determine whether he can be released on bail.