EAST POINT, GA — A candidate for East Point City Council is facing child cruelty charges after being accused of abusing her foster children over multiple years.

According to arrest warrants, Marie Terry allegedly abused three foster children, ages 13 to 17, while they were in her care. Investigators say Terry disciplined them by hitting them with a skillet, a wooden grill scraper, and a plastic bat.

She is also accused of forcing the children to eat cat feces from a litter box and making them sleep either on the basement floor or in a locked closet.

Terry has been released on a $15,000 bond. We have reached out to her attorney for comment.

WSB’s Jonathan O’Brien contributed to this story