Two people in Camden County were charged with holding a girl captive in their home for seven years and forcing her to live in squalid conditions including living in a dog crate, officials with the Camden County Prosecutor’s Office said Wednesday.
Brenda Spencer, 38, and Branndon Mosley, 41, both of Gloucester Township are accused of 11 total crimes, officials said.
The pair were charged with first-degree kidnapping, second-degree counts of conspiracy to commit kidnapping, aggravated assault and endangering the welfare of a child. She was also charged with third-degree counts of criminal restraint and aggravated assault with a deadly weapon as well as weapons offenses.
Mosley was additionally charged with first-degree aggravated sexual assault and second-degree counts of sexual assault and endangering the welfare of a child.
Spencer is the mother of the 18-year-old held captive for about seven years and another girl that lived at the home. Mosley is the girls’ step father.
Police were initially called Thursday night after the 18-year-old reported escaping her home and was assisted by a neighbor, officials said at a press conference Wednesday.
She initially told police that she needed homeless services and did not disclose the full extent of her confinement and abuse, according to Gloucester Township Police Chief David Harkins.
Harkins said the girl declined domestic violence services Thursday night, but disclosed the full extent of what she had endured to investigators on Saturday.
The girl told authorities she was held captive and sexually abused for years, officials said.
She told police Spencer withdrew her from school in 2018 when she was in the sixth grade and confined her to their home, authorities said.
She told investigators that she was forced to live in a dog crate with her hands bound behind her back for about a year and later chained in a padlocked bathroom, authorities said.
She was later confined to a bare room with only a bucket to use as a toilet, authorities said.
The room had an alarm system that would notify Spencer and Mosley if she tried to leave and she was only allowed to leave the room when family visited the home, the girl told authorities.
During the years she was held captive, she was physically beaten with a belt and sexually abused by Mosley, authorities said.
On one occasion the girl was not being fed and Mosley offered the girl food in exchange for sex acts, charging documents show.
She escaped the home on Thursday and was helped by a neighbor, authorities said.
Authorities did not say how the girl escaped the home.
Investigators searched the home and found the girl was subjected to living in squalid conditions alongside several dogs, chinchillas and other animals, authorities said.
No complaints about the property where the girls were held for years was filed by any neighbors and there was no previous indications of child abuse taking place at the residence, officials said.
The only complaints authorities received concerned barking dogs, Harkins said Wednesday.
Investigators also discovered another 13-year-old girl that lived at the home had been removed from school years earlier by Spencer, officials said.
The older sister told investigators the younger girl was taken out of school after second grade because Spencer and Mosley were afraid she would tell someone her older sister was living in a dog crate, according to charging documents.
The two girls were allegedly homeschooled, according to officials.
Both girls attended Gloucester Township public schools, Harkins said Wednesday.
Authorities did not say which school the two girls attended, but Camden County Prosecutor Grace C. MacAulay said there is no state law that requires districts to follow up with students who have been pulled for home schooling.
The school district is cooperating with the investigation, officials said.
Mosley and Spencer were arrested at the home Sunday and are being held at the Camden County Correctional Facility pending a detention hearing on Friday at 9 a.m., officials said.
Mosley worked as a train conductor for SEPTA, officials said. Spencer was not employed, officials said.
No attorneys for Mosley and Spencer were listed in court records Wednesday.
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Matthew Enuco may be reached at Menuco@njadvancemedia.com.
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