Special Forces soldier 'used an electric dog collar on two young girls and forced them to run sprints'

A Special Forces soldier has been jailed after being accused of using an electric dog collar to punish two small children.

Michael Lee Mitchell is also accused of torturing the girls by making them carry out extreme physical exercise until they vomited.

The eight-year-old girl told authorities Mitchell would put the dog collar on arm after and use it to shock her if she stopped running.

Army Special Forces soldier Michael Lee Mitchell is accused of punishing two young girls with extreme physical activity and electric dog collar shocks

She told police Mitchell threatened to put the device on her neck before wrapping it around her arm.

She told Sheriff's Deputies that Mitchell, who is with the Army’s 7th Special Forces, made her run alongside his car for up to three miles.

When she collapsed from exhaustion the dog collar, which emits a small charges and is used to train dogs, was placed on her arm and switched on until she got up.

The four-year-old had the electric collar placed round her waist, according to police.

Investigators said the alleged abuse was carried out by Mitchell's at his home in Crestview, Florida.

An arrest warrant revealed that Mitchell, 24, would frequently punish the girls by forcing her to do extreme physical activity like push-ups, sit-ups and running.

In a police interview Mitchell admitted to the abuse and said his punishments were 'extreme and over the edge.'

He told police he called the extreme exercise 'suicides'.

Neighbours in the suburban town, who included a Sheriff's Deputy, are stunned by the alleged cruel punishment meted out to the girls.

A neighbour told Fox10: 'Knowing that it was in our neighborhood so close to home; and knowing that our daughter played with those little girls; knowing that she could've seen something happen in watching them play outside and not knowing that something was going on; it's horrible.'

An Army spokesman described the incident as 'unfortunate', but said they couldn’t comment on civil matters.

Mitchell used the dog collar, file shown here, to punish the girl. He attached it to an arm and shocked the child until she got up

Mitchell was charged with two felony counts of child abuse.

Under privacy rules, the sheriff's office could not disclose Mitchell's relationship to the girls who were taken into care by the Department of Children and Families.

Mitchell is being held on $200,000 bond.

The 7th Special Forces Group, based at Eglin Air Force Base, Florida, are heavily involved in military operations in Afghanistan.

They have lost more soldiers than any other unit in the 10-year-old war.

On the website of the Elgin Air Force Base it says soldiers with the 7th Special Forces are unique in that they are deployed in war, peacetime and conflict.