California couple enlists churchmember to beat their teen for smoking: police
Authorities suspect 39-year-old enforcer has beat other children at parents’ request
A California couple enlisted a brutish local enforcer to dish out a beating on their teenage son because they suspected the boy was smoking, authorities say.
Paul Kim, 39, of Chino Hills, is facing felony child cruelty charges after cops say he hammered the unidentified high schooler about a dozen times with an inch-thick pipe at the boy’s parents request.
The parents, also not identified, drove the boy over to Kim’s suburban punishment pad last weekend after they found a lighter on him and suspected he was lying about smoking, San Bernardino County police said.
Kim and the boy’s parents attend the same Lutheran church in La Habra, and authorities believe he has doled out beatings for other parents.
Child welfare agents interviewed the boy and his parents on Tuesday after he showed up to school with nasty-looking bruises on the back of his legs, authorities said.
Kim was later busted and charged with willful cruelty to a child. He was released Thursday on $100,000 bail, according to the Los Angeles Times.
Kim and a woman who appeared to be a relative didn’t give a comment to a CBS News crew that went to his home last week, instead telling the reporter, “You are not welcome here.”
San Bernardino County Sheriff’s department is asking any other victims and witnesses to come forward.
Originally written BY PHILIP CAULFIELD
