Horrifying details emerge of alleged abuse of developmentally disabled Colorado man
Two more family members have been arrested and charged with physical and psychological abuse of a developmentally disabled man in their care. Witnesses have said that the family members beat, choked, kicked and punched their relative Oscar, who functions at the level of a 5- to 8-year-old.
The newly released arrest affidavits from the Arapahoe County Sheriff's Office state that Oscar was often deprived of food, made to sleep on a laundry room floor or in a barn and was regularly beaten for perceived infractions.
In February, Arapahoe County authorities arrested and charged Gerilynn "Lynn" Amaro, 71, with seven counts of assault of an at-risk adult after investigators reviewed videotapes of alleged beatings. Amaro was the legal guardian for Oscar, who's her cousin, after Oscar's father died in 2010.
The videotapes, recorded by one of the Amaros' daughters, Melissa Crawford, in December 2023 at the Amaro home in Strasburg, depicted Gerilynn Amaro forcing the man to exercise with a bar of soap in his mouth while screaming at him with her grandchildren in the room. Some clips showed Amaro pushing the man to the floor, kicking him and pulling his hair when she believed he had not run in place or performed squats to her satisfaction.
"Get your f---ing arms down," she yelled at him during one taped session. According to police investigators who viewed the videos, she told him to run in place, shouting, "faster, faster! Like a bear is gonna rip your d--- off!" At one point, when Oscar stopped running in place, Lynn Amaro allegedly threatened him, saying, "start running again right now or I'll kill ya."
Last week, authorities arrested two more members of the same family: Gerilynn's husband Richard Amaro and their daughter Ricci Amaro. The two were charged with felony assault against an at-risk adult.
According to the affidavits, investigators interviewed Oscar, who stated that Lynn Amaro would withhold food from him and prohibit him from eating if he did "something wrong."
He said he was made to sleep on the laundry room floor and told investigators that Lynn Amaro had beaten him with a "yellow stick" at one point.
During an interview with police, Crawford stated that during a recent five-month period when she lived at the home, "Oscar was hit, kicked or shoved down by either Gerilynn, Ricci or Richard almost every day."
On one occasion, when Oscar took some children's cough syrup in the house, Crawford told investigators that Ricci, her sister, said "she forced Oscar to take the rest of the medicine that was leftover, saying that it would make him learn."
The daughter told authorities that last December, "she witnessed Ricci and Richard holding Oscar down while Gerilynn punched and slapped him multiple times."
The affidavit states that someone in the house, whose name was redacted, informed them that Ricci Amaro "either hits or punches him with her fist."
The witness described Ricci Amaro punching Oscar in the mouth, cheek and legs and also said Ricci Amaro kicked Oscar.
Authorities arrested Ricci and Richard Amaro late last week, and they were jailed in Logan County. Neither has responded to text messages from CBS News Colorado.
Lynn Amaro responded, however, blaming her daughter Crawford for the criminal cases.
"This is a mess brought on by a vengeful, disturbed daughter," wrote Lynn Amaro. "We have, on the advice of our attorneys, been told to wait before we go public... we want our side told when the time is right."
You can view the arrest affidavits for Ricci Amaro and Richard Amaro here:
