Couple gets probation in case linked to Satanism

Joseph Scott Craig, 25, entered an Alford plea Friday – in which the accused maintains innocence while acknowledging that prosecutors had enough evidence to possibly win a conviction – to charges of assault inflicting serious injury and assault on a female.

Craig, his wife, Joy Johnson, 30, and Dianna Palmer, 44, of Cottage Woods Court, were charged last year after a man and a woman told police they were beaten, shackled to beds, kept in dog cages and starved inside a home on Albany Street.

The case against Palmer was dismissed in January.

Johnson pleaded guilty to aiding and abetting, Craig’s attorney, Woody Vann, said. Both were sentenced to two 60-day suspended sentences and a year of probation.

Prosecutors said the victims met Craig through a shared interest in Satan worship, but that they never consented to physical abuse.