James And Crystal Driggers Arrested For Child Neglect, Friends Claim They’re ‘Great Parents’

South Carolina police have arrested James and Crystal Driggers for making their teen daughter live in the woods as punishment for eating a Pop-Tart without permission. What is startling about this particular case is that this is not the first time these parents have been known to harshly punish their children.

In a related report by the Inquisitr, investigators say James and Crystal Driggers made their 14-year-old daughter live in a tent in the woods for an entire week as punishment. She was only given a flashlight, a whistle, a watch, and a roll of toilet paper in order to survive, and the teen’s concerned grandma said this tough punishment was intended to “make her feel how it would be to be homeless.” She was expected to meet a family member at a fence at a certain time each day to receive food.

“She couldn’t return for any reason,” police spokesman Braden Bunch said. “Not to get a drink, not to use the bathroom, nothing. We feel very confident that the parents were overstepping their bounds. From trying to correct a child’s behavior to true criminal punishment.”

Bunch says the teen girl “was out there for two days and was expected by her parents to stay out there for another five. The parents have confirmed to us exactly what they were planning.” The father claims the teens was a “problem child” who was making trouble at school and home.

When the weather turned stormy on Thursday night, the grandmother intervened, but James and Crystal Driggers became upset. The police were called in and James assured them that their child would be allowed home, but the very next day, she was back in the tent. Crystal allegedly told deputies, “Now maybe we can get some help for her. Y’all wouldn’t help before.”

James and Crystal Driggers have punished the same teen for eating a protein bar without permission. That time, the mother drover her to the salon to cut her hair short as punishment. In recent times, the 14-year-old girl was also ordered to do yard work during a heat wave.

“She would have to use the restroom outside and retrieve water from a water hose,” one investigator wrote in a report. “[She] stated that if she got really hungry, she would climb into the garage window and get food from the other refrigerator.”

In addition, The Sumter Item notes that Crystal and James Driggers “both have one charge each of discharging firearms into a dwelling from 2013 pending in Sumter County courts.” It’s said the couple was outside on their property and “started shooting guns off.”

Although police have charged the parents with child neglect, not everyone believes James and Crystal Driggers are bad parents. According to The Daily Beast, the parents run a small Team Beachbody business, and one Beachbody coach named Stella McCauley claims the Driggers are “both great parents.”

“I don’t understand why people have to start drama and BS for them,” McCauley posted on Facebook. “They have a successful business and have worked very hard to get where they are.”

Another family friend named Melissa Korstange claims the world needs more parents like James and Crystal Driggers.

“Crystal Driggers and James Driggers. If we had more parents like these two the world would be a much better place,” Korstange wrote.

What do you think?

[Image via Sumter County Sheriff’s Office]