Florida Couple Arrested For Handcuffing Young Boy, Locking Him In Closet For 16 Hours A Day
TAMPA (CBSMiami/AP) — A Florida couple is facing charges for handcuffing a young boy and locking him in a closet for 16 hours a day as a form of punishment, authorities said.
The Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office tweeted that John Hernandez, 41, Natasha Dabbs, 37, were arrested Sunday after deputies were called to the home over reports of a missing child. They found the boy hiding inside the Tampa area home, and cleared the call.
But deputies returned to the home a short time later to investigate potential child abuse, said Sheriff Chad Chronister. It wasn't clear why the boy was reported as missing.
The child told deputies he had been handcuffed and locked inside the closet for up to 16 hours a day, investigators said. He told them the punishment had been happening for several weeks.
Hernandez admitted to detectives he handcuffed the boy and put him in the closet as "punishment for behavioral issues" from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m. each day, the sheriff's office said in a release.
Dabbs told investigators that she knew about the punishment and did not try to stop it. Dabbs told them it had been happening since Christmas Day, the release said.
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Hernandez was charged with aggravated child abuse and Dabbs was charged with child neglect and failure to report child abuse, the sheriff's office said.
The sheriff's office didn't list the age of the boy, or the relationship between the couple and the child due to Marsy's Law.
"The actions of this couple are reprehensible," said Sheriff Chad Chronister in a statement. "I am so proud of our deputies for noticing something was not right while they were at the initial call and following through. Their actions may have saved this young boy's life."
(© Copyright 2021 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)