RED WING, Minn. – A Red Wing couple accused of torturing their children will be sentenced in December. The kids — three boys ages 7, 5 and 3, and a girl, age 9 — were taken away from the couple in August 2022 when a social worker discovered the situation. Benjamin Taylor Cotton, 42, and Christina Ann Cotton, 39, were charged in June 2023, and two weeks ago pleaded guilty in a plea deal. The deal, negotiated with Goodhue County prosecutors, is still subject to a judge’s acceptance. Although the charges were reduced in the plea deal, the original charges were multiple counts of:
> Child torture.
> Neglect or endangerment of a child.
> Malicious punishment of a child.
A social worker said the boys were locked inside makeshift cages. One cage was described as a playpen with something like a dog gate strapped on top. Another cage for two of the he boys was described as a small bunk bed with wooden planks and a wooden door nailed to it. The girl was found locked inside a basement bedroom. The children had been in the cages at least 13 hours, the social worker said. The 3-year-old boy was wearing a soiled diaper that had been duct-taped to his skin, the social worker said. Three children had “extensive” and “excessive” bruising consistent with being belted, according to the criminal complaint.
Benjamin Cotton. Reduced charges: One count of child torture, also complicity in other abuse.
Christina Cotton. Reduced charge: One count of child torture. The criminal complaint cited a history of mental illness.
How the kids?
They were evaluated at Children’s Hospital in St. Paul and at the Midwest Children’s Resource Center. A licensed psychologist called the physical and emotional abuse “intrafamilial child torture.”