An arrest warrant has been issued for 43-year-old Dwight Bainbridge after the Department of Children and Families received a report that a 16-year-old girl had been sexually abused and molested by him for around a year and a half.
Bainbridge’s girlfriend, Jessica Brambilla, has been arrested in connection with the investigation after allegedly helping to keep the girl locked in the room and only allowing her out twice a day to use the bathroom.
According to the arrest affidavit, after a search warrant was obtained for Bainbridge’s home in Sarasota, officers found a bedroom with a padlock on the outside of the door. In the room there was “limited bedding” and a bucket that contained urine.
Detectives from the Sarasota County Sheriff’s Office said that Bainbridge and Brambilla kept the girl in the room because they believed she would “bring boys to the house”. The pair lived at the home with Brambilla’s 20-year-old son William Land and four other children.
The affidavit states that Bainbridge, Brambilla and Land took it in turns to let the girl out of the room to use the bathroom and to give her food. The girl was later provided a bucket after she urinated on the floor, police said.
According to the affidavit, the alleged victim was only allowed to eat twice a day and her meals consisted of plain oatmeal, two peanut butter and jelly sandwiches, two cups of water, and multivitamins.
The pair also allegedly refused to home-school the 16-year-old as punishment, with the child allegedly going four months at one stage without “school privileges”.
Recently, the girl was also allegedly confined to her room for 24 hours a day and only allowed to bathe once a week. A sergeant described the girl’s condition as “malnourished, pale, dirty” and her dental hygiene “very poor.”
During police interviews, Brambilla admitted to locking the girl in the room and only occasionally letting her out to use the bathroom. She said that the acts were Bainbridge’s idea and therefore “saw no problem with how they were treating [her]”.
It is unclear if she was aware of the alleged molestation.
Online records show that Brambilla is currently in custody held on a $50,000 bond after being charged with cruelty towards a child and aggravated child abuse.
Police said Bainbridge’s location is still unknown.
According to Fox 13, Bainbridge has been in and out of jail for the past two decades, including being convicted of sexual assault and strangulation in 2012.
He moved into the home in Sarasota with Brambilla following his release.
