Left to right: Casey Cano, Mary Cano (Crawford County Jail via WKBT).
A Wisconsin couple allegedly starved their six children for years, forcing them to eat mold, grass and dog food while also subjecting the kids to brutal beatings with a belt that sometimes broke the skin.
Casey Cano, 38, and Mary Cano, 35, face six counts each of repeated physical abuse of a child with great bodily harm and child neglect, along with one count of causing a child under 13 to view or listen to a sex act, according to court records.
According to criminal complaints obtained by local CBS affiliate WKBT, the couple abused six kids from January 2018 through April 2022 at their home in Crawford County, which sits in southwest Wisconsin. The children alleged that the defendants would withhold food as punishment for several days, causing the kids to eat dog food, mold and grass for sustenance.
In another instance, the Canos reportedly forced one of the kids to wear a diaper for three days as punishment. The suspects also allegedly would beat the kids with a belt leaving behind welts or causing skin to break.
Local ABC affiliate WXOW, citing the same complaints, reported the kids were aged between 1 and 9 at the time of the abuse. The beatings would allegedly begin for the children starting when they were as young as 3 months old.
Charges indicate that Casey Cano was the aggressor, while Mary Cano — whose charge has a "party to a crime" modifier — did nothing to stop it.
This isn't the first time the suspects were accused of abusing children. Both were charged in 2022 with the repeated sexual assault of the same child. Casey Cano pleaded no contest that same year and was sentenced to 10 years in prison with all but one year stayed, and five years of probation. Mary Cano pleaded guilty to the same charge and received a five-year prison sentence with all but 90 days stayed, according to court records.
WXOW reports the investigation into the latest charges began in December. Both subjects were arrested at the end of March and have since posted bond.