Two Prince Frederick women are facing felony child abuse charges after Calvert County investigators say four teenagers in their care were found weighing under 75 pounds each, allegedly starved and limited to bread and water for an unspecified period. Latisha Simone Holland, 52, and Loretta Virginia Henson, 84, were arrested on October 9 and each charged with nine counts tied to the alleged abuse of the four teens, who range in age from 13 to 18.
Court documents detail a disturbing picture of conditions inside the home on Orwell Court, according to SoMdNews.com, which first reported the charges. Each woman is charged with four counts of second-degree child abuse, a felony, four counts of neglect of a minor, and one count of second-degree assault. The case originated after the local Child Protective Services office received a report of child neglect in Prince Frederick on September 24. Under Maryland Family Law Section 5-704, teachers, health practitioners, police officers, and human service workers are among those legally required to report suspected abuse; other people may also report suspected neglect, according to The Maryland People's Law Library.
Starved and Left Untreated, Investigators Say
Detective Senior Deputy Michael Mudd of the Calvert County Sheriff's Office, who authored the charging documents, wrote that the children were being starved and allowed to consume only bread and water, per court documents cited by the station's report. Mudd also reported physical abuse of the youths and said the four appeared thin, malnourished, and physically underdeveloped for their stated ages. Senior Assistant State's Attorney Rebecca Cordero told the court that each child weighed below 75 pounds and that none of the four had ever been taken to a doctor.
The four teenagers — a 13-year-old girl, a 14-year-old boy, a 16-year-old boy, and an 18-year-old young man — were home-schooled, Cordero said. That detail points to a structural gap in state oversight: under Code of Maryland Regulations Title 13A, Subtitle 10, homeschooling parents are only required to maintain educational portfolios for semiannual review by local school superintendents, and state regulations do not mandate medical exams, doctor visits, or physical health checks, according to the same People's Law Library resource. Local school systems are legally prohibited from imposing additional monitoring beyond what the state regulation requires, which means four teenagers could go without any doctor visit for years without triggering an automatic welfare check tied to their education. The youths are now in foster care and were evaluated at a hospital, per Cordero.
Judge Sets Bail, Orders Someone to Move Out
Cordero, who specializes in child abuse and sex offense cases in Calvert County and was appointed in December 2024 by Governor Wes Moore to the District 12 Trial Courts Judicial Nominating Commission, according to the Southern Maryland Chronicle, urged the court to hold both women without bond. District Court Judge Robyn Riddle did not go that far. Riddle instead set bail for both women at $5,000 and stipulated that they could not contact the four youths or each other — a no-contact order that, as Riddle noted in court, meant the women would have to decide which of them would move out of the Orwell Court residence.
Under Maryland Rule 4-216.2, judges conducting bail reviews must weigh offense severity, safety risks, and community ties against state rules that favor the least restrictive conditions necessary to ensure a defendant returns to court, as explained by Metzner & Houpt. That balancing test appears to explain why Riddle opted for bail and strict conditions rather than denying release outright. Both women are due back in District Court on November 4, and it remains an open question which defendant will vacate the home, along with whether prosecutors will pursue additional charges or seek a grand jury indictment in Circuit Court.
What the Charges Carry
Second-degree child abuse under Maryland Criminal Law Section 3-601 is a felony carrying up to 15 years in prison for a first offense, rising to 25 years for anyone with a prior child abuse conviction, according to The Herbst Firm. Each of the four neglect counts is a misdemeanor under Section 3-602.1 punishable by up to five years in prison and a $5,000 fine. The single second-degree assault count each woman faces carries up to 10 years in prison under Section 3-203, according to Seth Okin Law — a penalty structure that distinguishes it from the felony abuse counts even though both relate to harm against the same victims.
