When I started seeing this story of a couple using Nazi-like torture on their 11-year-old son as a form of discipline I knew pot was involved. Sure enough, the modern day Dr. Mengele, one Pedro Rivera, was charged with possession of marijuana with intent to sell which doesn’t necessarily mean he was a dealer, just that he had a very large quantity of pot in his house. Judging from the mug shots of him and his girlfriend Megan Brazell, they were using right up to when they were dragged into court.

But the pot is not what got them arrested at first, it was the 40 minute long ice water baths that caused frostbite and hypothermia he gave to his son, you know, to discipline him. That sounds rational, right?

Read this and you will weep:

New Castle County Police said his father, 29-year-old Pedro Rivera, was the culprit who dealt the blows to him.

“This is one of the nastiest cases of child abuse that we have seen in a while,” said Cpl. Trinidad Navarro.

Rivera and his girlfriend, Megan Brazell, 26, were arrested Saturday and charged with child abuse. Police also found more than 20 bags of marijuana in Rivera’s bedroom.

Police received an anonymous tip of child abuse taking place at the Village of Windhover Apartments, located at 104 Sandburg Place in Bear. Navarro said officers responded to the residence at about 5:40 p.m. Brazell answered the door and told police that she was alone with her two infant sons, but upon further inspection of the residence police found Rivera.

“While inside, the officers noticed a man coming out of the back room of the home who said that he had been disciplining his son,” Navarro said.

That abuse included submerging the boy in ice-cold water for 40 minutes, Navarro said. Police found a bathtub full of water when they searched the home.

“When they took him to the hospital they weren’t even getting a reading on the kid,” Navarro said.

Police found the boy inside of a closet on his hands and knees shaking, Navarro said. He didn’t respond when officers asked about injuries on his body. Those injuries included burn marks to his back, buttocks and hands, bruises under both eyes and a hemorrhage in his left eye. Police said the blisters on his hands were signs of frost bite that was healing.

“It’s a pretty troubling investigation,” Navarro said. “Clearly the worst-case scenario of child abuse is when a child dies, but it’s safe to say that officers probably rescued this kid from lifelong injuries.” Navarro also said that the boy asked police not to return him to the custody of his father.

Like I said, this seems less like discipline and more a re-enactment of Nazi Germany’s experiments on Jews and Gypsies. But hey, sober people do these things all the time to their kids, and I’m sure someone will come to the comments and name three.