James And Crystal Driggers: Pop-Tart Parents Charged With Child Abuse

James and Crystal Driggers forced their daughter to live in the woods because she ate a Pop-tart without permission. The Sumter County, South Carolina couple were arrested after police officers found out the 14-year-old was sent to stay in a tent in the woods twice during the same week.

James Driggers, 33, and Crystal Driggers, 36, allegedly prevented their daughter from coming back inside the home for two days, telling her to go back in the woods and remain there for the rest of the week. The South Carolina “Pop-tart parents” put up a tent for their daughter in an spot where wild hogs frequented, according to Sumter County police reports.

The 14-year-old girl sent to live in the woods because she ate an unauthorized Pop-tart was reportedly given only was a watch, flashlight, and a roll of toilet paper before being sent to live in the woods by her parents.

Jame and Crystal Driggers’ allegedly told their daughter that she would meet by someone from the family at a specific spot and designated time, along the property fence line each day. If the girl wanted to receive any food, she had to arrive when and where she was told. The camping spot created by the parents was reportedly about a quarter-mile from the home. Sumter County Sheriff’s Office officials stated that on one afternoon, a brother brought the girl a plastic spoon and a can of Spaghetti-Os to eat.

Intense thunderstorms hit the Sumter County area during the time the girl was sent to live in the woods. When her grandmother found out that the girl was out in the woods during the storm, she called the police. While waiting for the authorities to arrive, the grandmother went into the woods amid the heavy rain, to find her granddaughter.

South Carolina law enforcement officers took the girl home and talked to her parents. After the deputies left, the teen was reportedly sent back out to the tent in the woods. During a follow-up visit the following afternoon, the police found that once again the girl was sent back out to the tent in the woods.

Police investigators discovered that the teen girl was sent from the home each day at 8 a.m. and not allowed to return home until 6 p.m. throughout last month. During that same time period, the temperatures regularly hit at least 100 degrees during the afternoon hours.

“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.”

James and Crystal Driggers have been charged with child neglect. Sumter County law enforcement officials said additional child abuse-related charges might be filed against the Pop-tart parents accused of forcing their daughter to live in the woods.

The Driggers’ family includes five children. The teen girl sent to live in the woods because she ate a Pop-tart without permission has been placed in state custody. All the other children in the home have reportedly been temporarily placed in the custody of grandparents.

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