Police discover
lesbian beating victim while searching for abducted
girl

Police raiding a Portage, Wis., rental property in search of a missing 2-year-old girl uncovered a house rife with horror: a gang engaged in identity theft who had allegedly killed one of their own, buried her in the backyard, and locked her abused 11-year-old son in a closet, the Associated Press reported Thursday.

Charged with being party to first-degree homicide, hiding a corpse, and child abuse are Candace Clark, 23; Clark's boyfriend, Michael Sisk, 25; Michaela Clerc, 20; and Felicia Mae Garlin, 15.

The teenage girl is the dead woman's daughter and the sister of the boy found in the closet.

Tammie Garlin died on June 4 after allegedly being beaten by her daughter and Clerc, reported the Associated Press. A complaint filed by police showed that Clerc and Tammie Garlin had been lovers and that Clerc believed Garlin had cheated on her.

According to the Associated Press, detectives reported that the group was wanted in several states. Clark was sought in Florida for the abduction of her 2-year-old daughter from a foster home. The search for the girl was what initially brought police to the Wisconsin property.

The group was engaged in financial fraud and identity theft, prosecutors told the Associated Press.

According to the complaint, members of the group had regularly tortured the 11-year-old boy by whipping him, witholding food, scalding him with hot water, and pulling his genitals with pliers. The complaint said he was forced to sleep naked in his sister's closet.

Both his mother, Tammie Garlin, and his sister participated in his abuse, prosecutors told the Associated Press.

The group, perhaps fueled by Clerc's jealousy, reportedly began to turn on Tammie Garlin, burning her and forcing her into the closet with her son. The boy told prosecutors that his mother was the only one who helped him, by putting cream on his wounds, reported the Associated Press.

Rex Taylor, the landlord, told the Associated Press that Sisk had approached him a few weeks ago asking if they could plant a garden behind the house, an apparent attempt to mask Garlin's burial.

Portage officers, alerted by officials in Lake County, Fla., went to the house June 14, reported the Associated Press. They found the missing 2-year-old, along with Clark's two other children, and caught Clark using a false name. Sisk was caught at a Milwaukee bus terminal the next day.

Police later found the 11-year-old boy after questioning Clark.

According to the Associated Press, a judge denied bail for Sisk and Clark on Wednesday. He set bail at $500,000 for Felicia Garlin and $350,000 for Clerc. (The Advocate)