Police say the girl told school staff she was locked in a bedroom without bathroom access while six other children in the home were treated differently.
CORAL SPRINGS, Fla. — A Broward Sheriff Fire Rescue lieutenant and his wife were arrested this week after Coral Springs police said they locked their 12-year-old adopted daughter in a bedroom for years, denied her bathroom access and singled her out for harsher treatment than the other children in the home.
The allegations, laid out in arrest records and repeated in bond court, have opened both a criminal case and a child-welfare case in Broward County. Joel Christopher Kohnert, 44, and Jennifer Renee Kohnert, 45, each face one count of child abuse without great bodily harm. State child-protection authorities have removed seven children from the house, and a judge has begun proceedings that could end the couple’s parental rights. The case now turns on whether prosecutors add charges, how family-court judges handle custody and what more investigators can document about the conditions the girl described.
According to police, the case began Feb. 11 when the girl told a school resource officer that her parents locked her bedroom from the outside at night because they said she wandered the house and took things from relatives. Investigators later wrote that the confinement stretched back roughly two to three years and happened overnight and, at times, during the day. Coral Springs police arrested the couple on Tuesday, March 31. At a bond hearing the next day, Broward Judge Corey Friedman rejected an effort to frame the accusations as a matter of religious practice. “That is not a religious issue, that is something else,” Friedman said after hearing the allegations summarized in court. By then, the case had moved beyond a single interview at school and into a wider inquiry involving police, child-welfare staff and the couple’s other children, whose statements prosecutors said supported parts of the girl’s account.
Police records describe a room that, investigators said, set the girl apart from the rest of the home. Officers wrote that her bedroom had minimal furniture, no toys or personal items and an air mattress instead of a regular bed. The door, they said, was secured from the outside and the window was restricted, leaving what an investigator described as no clear way out in an emergency. The girl told police she could not use a bathroom once the door was locked, so she sometimes urinated on the floor or on herself and, at times, defecated in the room. She said she then had to clean the mess with her own clothing, sometimes using vinegar or bleach, wash the soiled items in a bucket and dry them before using them again. She also told investigators she had only a few outfits at a time and that additional clothing or money was taken from her. Police said she reported that her mother pulled her hair, slapped her hard enough to make her lip bleed, kicked and taunted her, and called her demeaning names. The allegations have not been tested in court, and investigators have not publicly said whether more charges are under review.
The broader picture that emerged from public reporting was of a child whose treatment differed sharply from the six other children in the house. Police said the other children’s rooms were furnished and were not locked from the outside. The girl told investigators she was punished by copying Bible verses and, at times, by treading water in a pool for as long as 45 minutes. Reports on the case said the couple had cared for her since she was 2 months old. Neighbors told local television stations that the family kept mostly to itself, and one report said the child had been homeschooled for a time before starting public school, where school staff noticed enough to trigger the investigation. That detail helps explain why the case came to light when it did: the public record shows no earlier complaint timeline, but it does show that once the girl was in school, the allegations moved quickly from a disclosure to police interviews and then to arrests. Joel Kohnert’s job added another layer of scrutiny. Investigators wrote that, given his professional background in fire rescue, he would be expected to understand the danger of keeping a child in a locked room with limited escape options.
The legal track is advancing on two fronts. In the criminal case, both defendants were jailed after their arrests and then held on $100,000 bond apiece. Judge Friedman found probable cause, barred them from contact with the alleged victim and the other children, ordered them not to possess firearms, weapons or ammunition, and told them to have no contact with minors. Public reports have not yet shown a plea from either defendant. In the family-court system, state authorities removed all seven children from the home, and by Thursday, April 2, a judge had begun proceedings tied to termination of parental rights. That does not decide the outcome, but it shows how seriously child-welfare officials are treating the allegations while the criminal case is still in its early stage. The next milestones are likely to come in scheduled court appearances and dependency hearings, though public reports reviewed Friday did not list a detailed court calendar. Broward Sheriff’s Office reporting cited by local outlets said Joel Kohnert, who was hired in 2010, has been placed on administrative investigative leave without pay while the case moves forward.
Reaction around the neighborhood showed how sharply people can read the same family once criminal allegations surface. One neighbor told NBC 6 that Joel Kohnert was “very controlling” and said the girl “wasn’t allowed to make friends.” The same report said neighbors described the household as strict and private. But another neighbor, speaking to Local 10 through tears, called the accusations “a lie” and said the couple were “awesome parents.” Those competing reactions did not change the basic court record, but they did underscore how much of family life can remain hidden from public view until a school, a hospital or another outside institution asks questions. For now, police have released only the outline of what investigators say happened inside the house. The children have not been publicly identified. The defendants’ lawyers have not laid out a detailed public defense beyond the argument raised in bond court. And the girl’s account, though supported in part by what prosecutors described as statements from other children and physical observations inside the room, still awaits the full testing that comes with hearings, motions and any eventual trial.
As of Friday, the criminal charges were pending, the seven children remained out of the home and the next major developments were expected to come in Broward courtrooms, where judges will weigh both the child-abuse prosecution and the future of the family’s custody rights.
Author note: Last updated April 3, 2026.