GREAT FALLS, Mont. -- Two teacher's aides are facing felony charges after allegedly abusing a special needs student.
Kristina Marie Kallies and Julie Ann Parish are each charged with one felony count of assault and one misdemeanor charge of endangering the welfare of children.
They are accused of holding a 13-year-old autistic boy's head under water after he dozed off in class, forcing him to sit in his soiled pants for hours and making him eat his own vomit when he got sick.
Parish and Kallies both denied abusing the boy, who attended Great Falls' North Middle School from the fall of 2008 until April 2009.
The boy's mother says she learned of the alleged abuse in April 2008, when another staff member sent her an e-mail warning her of Garrett's teacher's aides.
Maria Bubb, a substitute teacher in Garrett's classroom in October and November of 2008, said in court documents that the staff was "mean and degrading" to Garrett, and that Kallies would "point her finger in his face and scream at him."
Other teachers testified that they saw Garrett's head held under running water and witnessed him being forced to sit in his feces for hours.
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