Mother of abused boy sentenced to 30 years in prison

CANTON, Miss. (AP) – A Mississippi mother has been sentenced in what a district attorney calls “one of the most horrible cases of child abuse I have ever seen.”

News outlets report officials announced Thursday that 34-year-old Latasha Leonard was sentenced to 30 years in prison. A tip in 2017 led authorities to a Canton home where a 10-year-old boy was being abused and neglected.

Madison and Rankin County District Attorney John Bramlett says he was the size of a toddler when he was found. He’d never been enrolled in school and was forced to stay in a small space for nearly 24 hours a day. Now he’s in foster care and recovering.

WLBT-TV reports the boy’s father, Anthony Holiday, pleaded guilty to condoning the abuse and was sentenced to five years in prison.

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