SOURCE: Associated Press, WTXL

CRESTVIEW, Fla. — A special teacher and two aides in Okaloosa County are charged with abusing autistic children by blowing whistles into one’s ears and locking them in dark bathrooms.

The Northwest Florida Daily News reported that teacher Margaret Wolthers turned herself in Tuesday, January 29, to Okaloosa County sheriff’s investigators. Wolthers faces aggravated child abuse charges.

Wothers’ aides Diana LaCroix and Carolyn Madison had turned themselves in already.

Okaloosa County Sheriff Larry Ashley said the women abused three children – ages 8 and 10 – from September to November 2018.

Ashley said the women held the arms of one child while blowing a whistle into the child’s ears. He said all three children were locked separately into a bathroom with the lights off for up to 90 minutes.

The women said they were disciplining the children and considered the practices acceptable.