Five years in prison for woman accused of torturing stepdaughter

MADISON (WITI) — Melinda Drabek-Chritton, a Madison woman accused of starving and locking her stepdaughter in a basement, was sentenced to five years in prison on Friday, July 26th.

Prosecutors say Drabek-Chritton and her husband denied the girl food and forced her to live in the basement. Prosecutors have also accused her stepbrother, Joshua Drabek, of sexually assaulting her.

The couple claims the teen suffers from mental illness and threatened to harm members of her family.

Drabek-Chritton pleaded no contest in the case.

The teen’s 18-year-old stepbrother is accused of repeatedly sexually assaulting the girl, beginning around her 10th birthday. Prosecutors say the girl’s stepbrother first sexually assaulted her around December 2006, then again from February 2009 to February 2010.

Prosecutors say the girl’s stepbrother was also the source of frequent beatings. Prosecutors say there were two other young children in the house who they say were allowed to hit their older sister. Those children are now in the custody of the state.

The girl's father, Chad Chritton goes on trial in November -- his second trial. The jury was deadlocked in his first.