Dad to serve 3-year term for child abuse

10/6/2005

VAN WERT, Ohio - A Van Wert County man was sentenced yesterday to three years in prison for beating his 13-year-old daughter and making her drink dish soap.

William J. Collins, 33, of Convoy, Ohio, was given the prison term on one count of permitting child abuse by Judge Charles Steele of Van Wert County Common Pleas Court.

Collins was indicted in April on that charge, plus an additional charge of endangering children that was dropped as part of a plea agreement. According to an investigation by the Van Wert County Department of Job and Family Services and the sheriff's office, Collins and Lorraine German, 31, of Ohio City, Ohio, beat the girl with a club, forced her to sleep on a hardwood floor, and made her drink water mixed with liquid soap.

German pleaded guilty to a charge of obstructing justice as part of a plea agreement and is scheduled to be sentenced next week. The girl has been placed in foster care.