PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A college student who suffered years of abuse at the hands of his parents is speaking out about their potential parole.
In 2013, Mitch Comer’s mother and stepfather, Paul and Sheila Comer, pleaded guilty to child cruelty.
The couple admitted to keeping Mitch locked up with little food in a dark bedroom and then in a bathroom inside their Paulding County rental home for years.
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When Mitch turned 18, Paul Comer put him on a bus to Los Angeles with a little cash and a list of shelters.
Los Angeles police found him pale, frail and weighing less than 90 pounds and brought him back to Georgia.
“A long time ago, I heard about a dude that was left in a closet and he came out happy, and I said I’m going to be that dude too,” Mitch Comer said.
He's now in engineering school and works part time for the district attorney that prosecuted his parents.
“Growing up the way I did, it didn’t seem like anybody really cared about other people all that much,” Mitch Comer said told Channel 2's Aaron Diamant.
A judge signed off on Paul and Sheila Comer’s plea deals of 15 years in prison and another 15 on probation, but the couple could be up for parole in September.
Parole board spokesman Steve Hayes said state law makes the Comers eligible after serving one third of their sentences.
“It does not mean that they will be paroled at this time,” he said. “The seriousness of a case is not lost on the board.”
Mitch Comer said he’ll fight to keep them in prison.
“I don’t think that’s right. I don’t like it at all,” he said.
Hayes said parole notices went out to allow prosecutors, judges and even Mitch time to weigh in before the board acts.