AKRON Women want trial for abuse charges

Three of the boys were found wandering the streets in April.
AKRON (AP) -- Two women who admitted beating five boys, locking them in a closet and forcing them to eat animal feces now want a trial, saying an eating disorder explains the children's malnourished state.
Mary Rowles, 31, and her live-in partner, Alice Jenkins, 28, each pleaded guilty in October to numerous charges. They face 15 to 100 years in prison and have not been sentenced yet. The women asked a judge Tuesday to withdraw their guilty pleas.
"They did not starve their children," defense attorney Donald Malarcik said as Jenkins and Rowles cried.
Rejected claims
Summit County Prosecutor Sherri Bevan Walsh rejected the defendants' claims that the children suffered from rumination, a condition in which someone voluntarily or involuntarily regurgitates partially digested food. It can cause malnutrition, dehydration and other problems.
Amy Thomas, a therapist at Northeast Ohio Behavioral Health, testified Tuesday that the children have gained weight and there are no reports of vomiting or regurgitation. She said the three older boys were diagnosed with post traumatic stress disorder.
"They had nightmares, stress and recurrent beliefs that Alice and their mother will come and attack them," Thomas said.
Common Pleas Judge Patricia Cosgrove did not immediately rule on the motion for a new trial. She gave Rowles and Jenkins until Dec. 30 to produce a medical expert who can testify on their behalf.
Found wandering
The women were arrested after Rowles' three boys, ages 8, 10 and 14, were found malnourished wandering city streets April 28. Police said the boys described being forced to live in a closet that reeked of urine, with the only light coming in at the bottom of the door.
The three boys and Rowles' other children -- boys ages 6 and 13 and a 12-year-old girl -- were sent to foster homes. Walsh said the boys were kept locked in a closet for up to a month or more at a time. She said Jenkins beat the boys for urinating on themselves or talking while confined in the closet.
Jenkins -- whom the children were ordered to call "dad" -- disciplined the children, police said, while Rowles took a more passive role.
The women pleaded guilty Oct. 30 to five counts of kidnapping; five counts of felonious assault; 10 counts of endangering children; three counts of corrupting another with drugs for encouraging three of the boys to smoke marijuana, and one count of possession of marijuana.
Rowles also pleaded guilty to five counts of permitting child abuse and another count of endangering children for keeping her daughter in an environment that put her safety at risk.