Father, Son Accused Of Shackling Teen Girl In Toledo Basement
By John Seewer, Associated Press
TOLEDO, Ohio (AP) — A teenager who said she was punished by being chained and forced to sleep in a darkened basement at different times over the past year used a spare key to escape Wednesday night, police said.
A father and his adult son were arrested early Thursday, not long after the 13-year-old girl was found outside a downtown office building more than a mile away.
Timothy Ciboro, 53, and Esten Ciboro, 27, were charged with kidnapping and child endangerment and were being held on bond.
Officers said it appeared the two men were trying to flee when they arrived at the house. Both were pulling away in a van with two younger children, a dog and cat, a map and a gun, according to a police report.
Both asked for a public defender during a brief hearing Thursday. A message was left with the public defender's office.
It's not clear how long the girl may have been in the basement. She told investigators she was shackled by the ankle to a support beam in the darkened room for different periods of time, and as long as a year, according to a court document.
The girl, who is related to the men, told officers she was shackled after wetting the bed. She said she hid a key in the basement that she used to escape when the men went jogging Wednesday night.
Officers found leg irons in the basement along with a bucket the girl said she used as a toilet, according to a police report.
The head of Lucas County Children Services said the girl was found with poor hygiene, but the two other children who also lived in the house appeared to be OK.
"They were not victims, to my knowledge," said Robin Reese, the agency's executive director.
The agency had contact with the girl in 2014, but she did not show signs of being malnourished or mistreated and was never removed from the home, she said.
The girl was home-schooled, Reese said. All three children were placed in foster care Thursday.
Information about the girl's mother wasn't immediately known.
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