Police on Wednesday arrested the
director of a group home in the seaside town of Santa Marinella
near Rome on charges of sexually abusing the minors in his care.
As well, four female staff of Il Monello Mare
were issued restraining orders forbidding them from entering the
group home for minors from troubled families, which has been
shut down pending a police investigation.
Prosecutors say some of the minors who lived there were
subjected to beatings and threats by staff, who forced them to
eat expired food and administered sedatives and tranquilizers
without a doctor's prescription.
The investigation was sparked when some of the victims
alerted a social worker.
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