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CPS takes infant in torture case

2 min read

CHARLESTON, W.Va. (AP) – The West Virginia couple involved in a high-profile case of alleged domestic violence has lost custody of their newborn daughter, a move the mother suspects is government retaliation for her refusal to cooperate in the criminal proceeding.

Child Protective Services removed 3-week-old Bozena from the couple’s home near Leroy in Jackson County after misleading them about the reason for their visit, Stephanie Lizon told the Charleston Daily Mail.

“They know that we are not abusing our children,” she said. “This is a war over beliefs.”

The state Department of Health and Human Resources, which oversees CPS, didn’t immediately comment on the allegations Friday.

Last month, a judge dismissed domestic battery and malicious wounding charges against Stephanie’s husband, Peter Lizon, partly because she denied the allegations and refused to cooperate with prosecutors.

In July 2012, Stephanie Lizon fled from her husband while at a store and told domestic violence shelter workers later that day that she had been held captive for the better part of a decade – beaten, burned and even shackled.

She later denied ever telling the story.

The couple has already lost custody of their son, 2-year-old Mojmir. He had been living with Stephanie’s parents in Alexandria, Va., but she said they brought him back to West Virginia and turned him over to CPS.

“My son is somewhere in the system – I don’t know where – and now so is my daughter,” Stephanie Lizon said. “The danger they claim they’re in is because we don’t appreciate the government’s involvement in our lives.

“We wouldn’t comply, therefore they have to, by default, take our children,” she said.

She said the evidence used in the criminal case was also cited by CPS workers.

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