Deborah Wiles, on the left, and Matthew Wiles, on the right. (Bluff City Police Department)
A wife and husband in Tennessee have been arrested and charged for allegedly abusing a teenage girl and threatening her life, according to law enforcement in the Volunteer State.
Matthew Wiles, 44, and Deborah Wiles, 46, each stand accused of one count each of aggravated domestic assault and child abuse and neglect, according to affidavits of complaint obtained by Law&Crime.
An officer with the Bluff City Police Department responded to a call about an “unruly” minor on Monday – after a man reported that a 15-year-old girl “had ran to his location,” the affidavits say.
The girl’s adoptive parents then explained to police that their daughter “was found to have a cellphone which is against their rules,” according to the court documents. Police say Deborah Wiles willingly admitted to shoving her daughter onto the couch during an argument after the girl refused to divulge the phone’s passcode. As the altercation over the phone continued, “the family was getting ready to leave for an event,” and the teenage girl refused to go – so the husband picked her up and carried her to the backseat of the family’s truck.
The girl was “thrashing” all the while and trying to get away, her parents said, according to the affidavits. The parents allegedly said that as Matthew Wiles placed the girl inside the truck, she hit her face on a rear post, resulting in a nosebleed. The girl then jumped out of the vehicle and ran down the street, the parents told police.
When interviewed by police, the girl said she “did in fact” have a phone “that she wasn’t supposed to have” and confirmed that she refused to share her passcode with her adoptive mother.
The teenager said Deborah Wiles shoved her onto the couch by grabbing her throat and kept her hand there, choking her, as she screamed, cursed, and said: “I’m going to choke the f––– out of you.”
As her breathing and speech were restricted during the choking, the girl said, her memory got hazy, and she could not remember everything. At some point, however, the girl told police that Deborah Wiles shoved her down to the floor, sat on top of her, and eventually grabbed her by the hair and pulled her up from the floor.
Then, the girl said, Matthew Wiles shoved his adoptive daughter’s head between her knees and said: “It’s my turn.”
As her adoptive father took her to the truck and placed her in the backseat, the girl said, he repeatedly hit her in the mouth, causing her nose and mouth to bleed, and called her a “little whore,” the affidavits say. She then waited until both of the adults were in the truck and ran.
The girl also told police about a series of cameras in the living room that would lend credence to her version of events.
According to the BCPD, Deborah Wiles was at first “reluctant” to share the videos but eventually “relented” and signed a form that allowed law enforcement to view the footage from inside the house.
In those videos, police wrote, the adoptive mother can be seen repeatedly choking the girl and pulling her around the floor by her hair.
“You’re going to die today because I’ve had enough,” Deborah Wiles can be heard telling the girl at one point, police allege in the affidavit. She later says: “I’m going to choke you the f––– out.”
While being choked by the wife at one point, the videos allegedly show, someone whose name is redacted in the affidavit walks up and smacks the girl in the face while demanding the passcode to the cell phone. The videos also allegedly show Matthew Wiles, in fact, taking his turn holding the girl down before later picking her up and slamming her head into a door before opening the door and taking her outside.