Boy, 12, allegedly forced to eat screws

A young Illinois boy was beaten with a paddle, and forced to eat two screws and do hundreds of pushups on his knuckles, say authorities who charged his parents. St. Clair County Sheriff's Department Capt. Steve Johnson said the 12-year-old boy's stepfather, James Jennings, 39, delivered most of the punishment because the child ate cookies and got crumbs on the floor which he feared could harm his dogs if they ate them, the Belleville News-Democrat reported. Jennings, who was charged Friday with felony aggravated battery, two counts of misdemeanor domestic battery and four counts of misdemeanor endangering the life of a child, was jailed in lieu of $400,000 bond. The boy's adoptive mother Lasawn Jennings, 39, who is on active duty at Scott Air Force base near Belleville, was charged Saturday in St. Clair County Circuit Court with a misdemeanor count of endangering the life of a child, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch reported. She was jailed in lieu of $20,000 bond. Authorities said the abuse allegedly happened early Thursday. Police were alerted after the boy reported the incident to a school nurse.