Six men and one woman were arrested after authorities discovered what they were hiding in a feces-covered Florida trailer. The house of horrors held the sickest of sex secrets for over a year, but the truth has finally come out. It’s enough to make your skin crawl and should serve as a warning.
Mark Earl Dennis, 52, Andrew Barry Dennis, 45, Michael Ray Blasdel, 36, J.R. Gauthier, 29, Eleanor Faye McGlamory, 56, Michael Wayne Schwartz, 51, and Curtis Lee Gruwell, 34, were all arrested. The arrests came after police discovered what the seven had been hiding in a squalid, feces-covered Florida trailer at the Silver Lake Mobile Home Community in St. Petersburg.
Authorities were alerted to the trailer while investigating the disappearance of a missing out-of-state teen. Louisiana authorities told Florida police that a missing 17-year-old from their state may be being held in the St. Petersburg trailer after he was “lured” there using an online app. Not only did the Florida authorities find the missing 17-year-old, but they also found a 16-year-old boy who was reported missing from Marion County nearly a year before.
Initially, Mark Dennis, who lived in the trailer with his husband Andrew Dennis, claimed the 16-year-old was his son. But, the horrific truth was soon revealed. The teen was allegedly lured away from his family with promises of a better life. Instead, he was “found living on a small mattress surrounded by animal cages and feces,” Daily Mail reported. But, it gets worse.
The boy was repeatedly sexually abused by the group of men, becoming their underage sex slave for a year. He was only rescued when the sexual deviants tried to lure the second boy to their house of horrors. Although authorities don’t believe the Louisianna teen was sexually battered, the first boy was “introduced to sadomasochism and used as a sex slave by Mark and Andrew Dennis, Gruwell, Schwartz, and their associates Michael Ray Blasdel and JR Gauthier” for an entire year, according to reports.
“As a mother, I cannot begin to stress how disturbing the facts of this case are for me,” Florida Attorney General Ashley Moody said. “The teenage victim, in this case, was lured away from his family with promises of a better life. Instead, he was moved into a filthy trailer and used as a slave for nearly a year.”
Police believe 56-year-old Eleanor McGlamory, who was arrested in Marion County, introduced the boy to the married couple. Both Mark and Andrew Dennis were arrested in Pinellas County along with Michael Ray Blasdel and J.R. Gauthier. Michael Wayne Schwartz and Curtis Lee Gruwell, the seventh suspect in the case, were also arrested. In all, the arrests covered three counties.
After one of the defendants groomed the second teen using the online gaming app called Discord, Gruwell and McGlamory, who knew the boy’s family, are accused of picking him up in Louisiana and driving him to St. Petersburg, Tampa Bay Times reported. Like the first teen, “He was told he was going to go to a place that was better,” Police Chief Tony Holloway said.
Instead, he and the 16-year-old were found in the feces-covered Florida trailer, where the Dennises lived with Gruwell and Schwartz. Just as had happened with the 17-year-old Louisiana boy, police determined McGlamory had also reached out to the younger boy when he was 15. She then set up the meeting with the Dennises, who gave him “a new identity.” He had left a note for his mom, asking her not to look for him.
“They used him as a sex slave. The conditions inside this small trailer were deplorable. The victim was living on a small mattress with no bedding surrounded by animals, animal cages and animal feces,” Major Mark Hensley said, echoing other reports. All seven defendants face charges of conspiracy to commit human trafficking and interference with custody. In addition, the Dennises, Blasdel, and Gauthier face charges of sexual battery of a child under the age of 16.
Police say there may be more victims. And, sadly, there may be more monsters in our society just like these seven heinous individuals, who conspired to deceive and victimize unsuspecting children. Like many teens, they were looking for a “better life.” Instead, they found adults willing to manipulate their emotions in order to prey on their innocence and use them for their own depraved desires. It’s usually our daughters who we worry may fall prey to an online predator, but let this remind us that we must watch over our sons too. You never know the evil that may be lurking online, waiting for an opportunity to lure our children away.