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Ga. couple accused of child cruelty after emaciated teen is found wandering L.A.

Paul Matthew Comer (left) and Sheila Marie Comer LAPD

(CBS/AP) DALLAS, Ga. - Investigators were planning to search the suburban home of a Georgia couple accused of child cruelty after an emaciated 18-year-old male was found wandering at a Los Angeles bus station.

Police cars were parked outside the home early Friday where authorities allege Mitch Comer was kept in such isolation that his two younger sisters in the same house did not know what he looked like, Paulding County sheriff's Cpl. Ashley Henson said.

"The sisters haevn't seen the brother in over two years," Henson said. "They didn't even know what color his hair was."

Their stepfather, Paul Comer, and mother Sheila Comer faced charges of false imprisonment and cruelty to children, Paulding County jail records show. They were being held without bond. The records did not indicate whether the Comers have an attorney.

The FBI and the Georgia Bureau of Investigation have joined the case, Henson said.

Mitch Comer told police his stepfather gave him $200 and a list of homeless shelters before he was put on a bus to Los Angeles on his 18th birthday, police in Los Angeles said Thursday.

Retired Los Angeles police Sgt. Joe Gonzalez was working security at a downtown bus station Sept. 11 when he spotted the teenage boy, who stood just over 5 feet tall and looked much younger, Los Angeles police said in a statement Thursday.

The boy told Gonzalez his stepfather declared that he was now a man before putting him on a bus.

Because he was so childlike, police worried that he wasn't as old as he claimed and decided to investigate further. The teen told authorities he had suffered years of abuse after being taken out of school in the eighth grade.

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