SEFFNER, Fla. — Deputies arrested a Seffner mother for hitting her children and, at one point, telling one of her kids to strike their sibling with a belt to "beat the crap out of the sly devil," authorities said.
Karyn Parrish, 28, faces a charge of child abuse following her arrest Tuesday, according to the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.
The agency said its deputies responded to a call for a welfare check at the Preserve at Sabal Park apartment complex. Law enforcement and an investigator with the Department of Child and Families met with Parrish and asked to speak with her two children.
During the meeting, deputies said they came across a child under 5 who appeared to be in distress — crying and shaking. They had about a 2-inch bruise on their face and when asked how they got the injury, the child reportedly said, in part, "Maybe my mom. Maybe she was slapping me around. She doesn't remember."
At some point, investigators found videos on Parrish's phone that showed her directing one of her children to hit another with a belt, the sheriff's office said.
"Hit harder. Hit hard, baby. Beat the crap out of the sly devil," the mother is heard saying on the video, laughing at times, according to the sheriff's office.
Parrish, too, told a child that they are "going to be tortured and if they die, then so be it."
"It is absolutely gut-wrenching and incomprehensible to have a case like this, where a mother would inflict such horrifying treatment on her own children," Sheriff Chad Chronister said in a statement. "My heart aches for these two young and innocent children. As Your Sheriff, I promise you that our team will not rest until we ensure that all the children in our community are safe."
The children were placed in the care of a relative as an investigation into the case continues, the sheriff's office said.