Man Sentenced in Child-Abuse Case

A local man was sentenced this week to nine months in jail for abusing his girlfriend’s two daughters in a case that a social worker described as the worst mental suffering by children she has seen in 10 years.

A jury last month found 39-year-old Josef Burnett Cannon guilty of four counts of inflicting physical pain or mental suffering on a child and two counts of inflicting cruel or inhuman corporal punishment on a child.

The girls, ages 5 and 7, testified during the trial that they were abused by Cannon because they didn’t follow his directions and didn’t study during recess and lunchtime while they were at school. Cannon would come to their school and check up on the girls to see if they were doing their work, Deputy City Atty. Grace Kim Lee said Friday.

Prosecutors said Cannon disciplined the girls by shaving their heads, whipping them with a belt, denying them food and making them sleep without blankets or pillows in a cramped bathroom. He first shaved the girls’ heads in the shape of a cross last summer and then eventually cut all the remaining hair.

“The law allows parents to discipline their children, but there is a limit,” Lee said. “In this case, that line was crossed. Not only was there the fact that he left injuries, but his actions were so oppressive.”

The allegations of abuse surfaced in September when the 5-year-old returned to school and her first-grade teacher noticed the unusual haircut. The teacher said she talked with Cannon, who acknowledged he shaved the girls’ heads, and claimed he took the action because they had made fun of children with cancer.

The girls’ mother, 27-year-old Rhonda Marie Wood of Woodland Hills told police she disciplined the girls, not Cannon, and that she had shaved her children’s heads because they had lice. However, the girls said it was Cannon who had shaved their heads and abused them. Wood pleaded no contest to battery earlier this year and was sentenced to 60 days in jail and three years’ probation, said Mike Qualls, spokesman for the Los Angeles city attorney’s office.

At Wednesday’s sentencing, Cannon also received four years’ probation and was ordered to stay away from the girls and undergo a year of parental training.

The maximum penalty Cannon faced was six years in jail. If he violates his probation, he could return to jail and finish the remainder of that time, Lee said.

Prosecutors praised the two girls, who remain in foster care, for testifying against Cannon at trial.

“They were afraid of even looking at him during the trial,” Lee said. “He set the standard so high, these girls were forced to experience failure. And that’s when he punished them.”