Wake County mother cites years of abuse in child neglect case

Six children were taken from a southern Wake County home after investigators said a 13-year-old was kept in a dog kennel and found covered in feces, a detail that now sits at the center of a Wake County case involving both child neglect and domestic abuse.

Rachelleigh Marie Galasso, 33, and Lacy Douglas Hocutt Jr., 34, were arrested April 1 with help from the Garner Police Department after the Wake County Sheriff’s Office said it began investigating a Feb. 20 tip about alleged sexual abuse, child abuse and child neglect. Prosecutors have described the allegations as among the worst they have seen. Hocutt faces multiple statutory-rape charges, while Galasso faces counts of negligent child abuse resulting in serious physical injury and serious bodily injury. Court filings say both are being held without bond.

The case has become more complicated as Galasso’s defense seeks bail and argues that her actions were shaped by years of abuse and threats from Hocutt. A family member has also said she believes Galasso was a victim in the case. That claim does not erase the abuse allegations against either adult, but it does show the government-system gap this case exposes: a household can contain both an alleged abuser and a parent who says she was trapped by coercion, fear and violence.

That distinction matters in Wake County because six children, ranging in age from 1 to 15, were allegedly left in conditions prosecutors say included serious health issues and no schooling. Prosecutors said none of the children could read or write. Those facts raise obvious questions about what agencies, courts and schools knew, what they missed, and how long the children were left outside the basic protections that should have caught their decline sooner.

North Carolina’s child protective services policy says county agencies must initiate an assessment when allegations, if true, would meet the legal definition of abuse or neglect. Domestic violence groups also note that abuse can include coercion, isolation, threats and the maltreatment of children. In a case like this, those definitions matter because they show how a parent can move from victim to defendant when violence inside the home spills into child welfare failures.

For Wake County families, the lesson is stark: when abuse isolates a parent and children begin missing school, health care and basic care, the warning signs can turn into criminal charges fast. The system is supposed to intervene before that point, not after six children are already out of the home and two adults are in custody.