An American same-gender couple has been sentenced to 100 years in prison on charges of sexually abusing their two adopted sons and sharing videos with other paedophiles. The horrific abuse occurred when the victims were as young as three and five years old.
The married couple, William (34) and Zachary Zulock (36) will spend the rest of their lives behind bars, without the possibility of parole, the Walton County District Attorney’s office announced.
“These two Defendants truly created a house of horrors and put their extremely dark desires above everything and everyone else,” said District Attorney Randy McGinley, according to WSB-TV.
“However, the depth of the Defendants’ depravity, which is as deep as it gets, is not greater than the resolve of those that fought for justice and the strength of the victims in this case. The resolve I have seen from these two young victims over the last two years is truly inspiring,” he added.
The two brothers, now aged 12 and 10, were adopted by the Zulocks from a Christian special-needs agency. The couple raised them in a wealthy Atlanta suburb. They appeared to be well off — Zachary worked in banking and William was a government employee — but as the case later revealed, it concealed a dark secret.
In their initial search of Zulocks' posh home, police reviewed two weeks' worth of footage from interior surveillance cameras, which showed the men sexually abusing the children in different parts of the house.
Evidence revealed that they even bragged about the abuse to some of their twisted friends and used social media to share videos of the torment with a depraved local paedophile ring.
The couple was arrested in 2022 after an alleged member of the ring was caught downloading child porn and revealed to investigators how the Zulocks were creating the videos with young boys living in their home.
Both Zulocks pleaded guilty — William in August and Zachary in October of this year — to charges of aggravated child molestation, aggravated sodomy, and sexual exploitation of children.
After hearing arguments from both the prosecution and defence, Judge Jeffrey L Foster followed the state's recommendation and sentenced both men to 100 years in prison without the possibility of parole, followed by a lifetime of probation.
Given the severity of their offence, neither of them will be eligible for parole until the full 100 years have passed, ensuring they will die in prison.
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