An Oregon father will spend decades behind bars for torturing his 7-year-old son with a Taser as a form of discipline — including when the child failed to hold a “push-up” position during family dinner.
Brandon Bret Rogers, 45, was sentenced Friday to more than 45 years in prison after a jury convicted him of nearly 60 charges, including nine counts of second-degree assault, 11 counts of first-degree criminal mistreatment and dozens of other charges related to child abuse, Lookout Eugene-Springfield reported.
Police in Springfield began investigating in September 2024 after receiving a report of child abuse involving a 7-year-old boy who had “multiple injuries all over his body.”
During their investigation, they learned that Rogers and the boy’s mother, Heather Black, 38, “physically abused their son, on two reported occasions, by tasing him as a form of discipline,” police said.
However, authorities soon uncovered hours of surveillance footage from the home that revealed a “more heinous environment,” where Rogers and Black physically abused their son multiple times a day, for multiple days in a row, using a Taser and other weapons, police said.
Rogers and Black also “menaced their 4-year-old daughter on multiple occasions with the Taser,” cops said.
During Friday’s sentencing hearing, Lane County Circuit Judge Charles Zennaché detailed some of the abuse the boy endured.
One example of the abuse that Zennaché shared involved the boy being told to stay in a “push-up” position while adult family members ate dinner. The judge said there was video evidence of the abuse.
“When [he] starts to drop, Dad tases him and yells at him,” Zennaché said, according to the report. “No adult did anything about it at any time, and it was shocking to me.”
The judge described Rogers’ actions as “deliberate cruelty” and “frankly torture” that was carried out by someone who should have been giving his son “solace and strength.”
Rogers’ attorney, Rebecca Antstine, blamed his actions on a “very, very violent childhood,” during which he “incurred daily beatings from his father” that resulted in hospitalization.
The two children have since been adopted, according to prosecutors. One of the adoptive parents told the court the two children are now “terrified to tell the truth when they make mistakes.”
Another parent told Rogers that the trial has forced the children to relive their trauma.
“That sweet baby boy was tortured and ganged up on by both you and Heather,” one of the adoptive parents said. “You treated a boy who thought of you as a dad like an animal, a subhuman, worse than a prisoner in a jail.”
Rogers’ total sentence is 45 years and 10 months. His attorney says he plans to appeal. Black pleaded guilty last year to assault and criminal mistreatment and is serving a 15-year prison sentence.
