Las Vegas Couple Pleads Not Guilty to Child Abuse, Boys Found in Dog Cage

Posted on: August 4, 2023, 08:55h. 

Last updated on: August 4, 2023, 09:47h.

Ed Silverstein @casinoorgedsilv Read More
Expertise: Legal, Tribal Gaming.

The husband and wife who allegedly forced two young boys to remain in a padlocked dog cage and abused five other children while living in a Las Vegas extended stay property both pleaded not guilty this week.

Travis Doss, top, and Amanda Stamper
Travis Doss, top, and Amanda Stamper, pictured above. The two are in custody after allegedly abusing several children. (Image: Knewz)

Travis Doss, 31, and Amanda Stamper, 33, entered their pleas on Tuesday in local court. Their cases will soon head to trial.

Last month, Doss was indicted on 33 child abuse and two kidnapping charges. Stamper was indicted on seven child abuse charges and also failing to protect children from substantial bodily harm.

This week, Stamper remained in custody at the Clark County Detention Center without bail because of a probation violation. Doss also remained in custody at the jail. His bail is $500K.

The children, ages two to 11, were found at Extended Stay America on Valley View Boulevard in a messy one-bedroom unit.

The 11-year-old boy in the cage had “two black eyes that were swollen shut, multiple marks and bruises all over his body, and he was emaciated,” according to a police report quoted by Las Vegas TV station KLAS.

He had been allegedly kicked in the head. Doss told Stamper he may have killed him, authorities said.

The boy also told police he was not getting enough to eat.

He kept saying that he needed big food because he was a big boy now and that he would have to share one large fry from McDonald’s with … all … [the] kids, and just that he was never really fed and that’s why he stole,” a Las Vegas police officer told a grand jury, the New York Post reported.

His 9-year-old brother was also kept in the cage.

Children Whipped

Doss was “violent towards all the children,” except a two-year-old, Stamper told police.

He allegedly struck the kids with “belts, extension cords, skillets, his hands, and feet,” according to police reports, quoted by KLAS. “Amanda said all the children are covered with marks from their neck down.”

Doss was identified as the father of all seven of the children found in the unit. Stamper, who is pregnant, is the stepmother to six of the children and the mother of the two-year-old, police said.

After they were discovered, the children were placed with the Nevada Department of Children and Families.

Two dogs were in the apartment, too. They were placed with a local animal control office.

The situation came to light when Stamper, who allegedly worked as a prostitute for Doss, confided in an employee at a local Walgreens pharmacy that Doss “threatened to kill her,” news reports revealed. She also told the employee about the condition of the children.

The employee called the Las Vegas Metropolitan Police Department (LVMPD).

Maintenance Worker Helped Cops

When police arrived on June 11, the children did not immediately open a door for officers. But a maintenance worker, Keith Archibald, 43, eventually got one of the boys to unlock the door.

Later, Archibald saw the older boy in the cage.

He was weak,” Archibald told KLAS. “He looked like he was starving, and he was beaten really bad. Bruises everywhere.”

Archibald was able to cut the padlock and then helped the officers remove the caged boys.

“It was God with me on that one,” Archibald said. “Something told me to talk to these kids because I’m a father myself.”

Doss Was Rapper

Doss, who was trying to become a rapper, was using the name “Trap Montana” professionally, according to the Post. He revealed on social media he spent “bricks” of cash and lived like a “hustler,” the Post reported.

He also is charged with sex trafficking and “living off the earnings of a prostitute,” the Post added.

Extended Stay America did not provide immediate comment to local media.