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Judge denies bond for couple accused of locking up teen

PAULDING COUNTY, Ga. — A judge denied bond for a Paulding County couple accused of confining their teenage son to a bedroom for years with little food.

Paulding County court administrator Frank Baker says Judge Tonny Beavers denied bond Friday to Paul and Sheila Comer, the stepfather and mother of Mitch Comer.

Lawyers for the Comers argued the couple be granted bond and given ankle monitors. But prosecutors said the couple is a flight risk and has has nearly two dozen addresses in three states in recent years.

"I genuinely believe that if they had been admitted to bail that we might never have seen them again," said District Attorney Dick Donovan.

Also Friday, Mitch Comer's father arrived in Georgia from Nevada. Channel 2 investigative reporter Aaron Diamant first contacted Tony Wawrzynski when he posted a tribute to his son on Facebook.

"I try not to think about it too much, because when I do, I just … it just tears me up," he told Diamant.

Wawrzynski told Diamant that Mitch's mother, his then girlfriend, took off with Mitch when he was just three years old.

"I kept thinking, well, I'll get a phone call, I'll get a letter, I'll get some word. It was just nothing and nothing and nothing," he said.

Wawrzynski has filed suit asking for the court to officially recognize him as Mitch's father.

"I want to be a part of the decision making process on who's treating him. I want to know how he's being treated," he said.

The Comers were indicted Oct. 23. They have been in custody since mid-September, after 18-year-old Mitch Comer was found wandering a Los Angeles bus station Sept. 11 and told police he had suffered years of abuse.