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California mother charged with 9 counts of felony child abuse in torture case

Prosecutors revealed even more chilling details of the torture they say the 10 children were subjected to: waterboarding, strangling, being shot with a crossbow.
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A California woman already accused of child neglect after police said she and her husband abused and tortured their 10 children was charged Wednesday with nine counts of felony child abuse, as prosecutors revealed even more chilling details of the children's home life.

In arguing for higher bail for Ina Rogers, 31, prosecutors said the children were strangled, subjected to waterboarding, shot with crossbows and had scalding water poured on them, according to NBC Bay Area. Prosecutors said Rogers did nothing while her husband, Jonathan Allen, 28, tortured their children.

Rogers originally faced only a misdemeanor charge of child neglect, and had been released after posting $10,000 bail. But in arguing for higher bail in State Superior Court in Fairfield on Wednesday, prosecutors said Rogers remained a danger to her children.

Judge William J. Pendergast agreed and set bail at $495,000, saying, "She may not be a danger to the public at large, but these charges make clear she is a danger to the children," NBC Bay Area reported. Rogers was taken into custody.

Rogers did not enter a plea to the new charges, according to NBC Bay Area. They come weeks after authorities first removed her children from her care.

Deputy District Attorney Veronica Juarez wrote that Rogers assisted in the abuse of the children by Allen, and dissuaded the children from reporting their injuries, which include broken arms, to protect Allen, The Associated Press said.

Police found the children living in squalor in their Fairfield home on March 31 while looking for one of the children, who had gone missing, Fairfield police have said.

Image: Ina Rogers
Ina Rogers talks with reporters about the seizure of her 10 children on Monday in Fairfield, California.Rich Pedroncelli / AP

That child, a 12-year-old boy, was found sleeping under a bush in the yard of a nearby home, police said, and the 10 children were taken into protective custody by Solano County Child Welfare Services that night.

Allen is facing nine counts of felony torture and six counts of felony child abuse. He was arrested Friday, has pleaded not guilty and is being held on $5.2 million bail.

Fairfield police officials have said that interviews with the children during their investigation revealed abuse and torture going back years.

The couple have adamantly denied the charges against them.

Allen said he was not a "monster" in a jailhouse interview Tuesday with NBC affiliate KCRA of Sacramento.

Image: Jonathan Allen and his wife, Ina Rogers.
Jonathan Allen and his wife, Ina Rogers.Solano County Sheriff's Office via AP

“I’m not 100 percent perfect, I’m not perfect. No one is perfect,” Allen said. “But I am not an animal, I am not a torturer, and I am not a monster.”

"There's no broken bones. There is no major scars, nothing," Rogers told reporters in front of her house on Monday. "My kids get bumped and bruised and scratched because they're kids, but that's it."

Rogers insisted that she and her husband love their children. "My children are my life," she said.

Rogers said child protection officials visited their home several years ago but nothing came of it.

Fairfield police Lt. Greg Hurlbut said he was not aware of previous efforts by child protective services to visit the Rogers-Allen home.

California’s Child Welfare Policy and Program Development Bureau and Solano County Child Welfare Services did not immediately respond to requests for comment.