Stressed out parents often joke about locking up their children until they are thirty to keep them safe from all the things that could cause them harm in the world today, but they don't actually follow through with their idle threats. However, after this story perhaps parents might want to rethink making those idle threats in the first place. According to a report published Jan. 29, 2013 at ABC News a New Mexico woman named Cindy Patriarchias and her boyfriend Edmond Gonzales took their three children to a movie at the school last week. Patriarchias' estranged husband noticed one of the children was missing and phoned the authorities afraid the eight year old was left unattended at home.
When the couple returned home the police were waiting to investigate. When they entered the home it is reported that the eight year old mentally handicapped child was locked in a homemade wooden cage. The police report read: "The cage had two latches on the door, a baby crib's mattress inside and was about 2 ½ feet wide and 4 feet inches tall." The report also noted the child did not appear to have any "physical injuries".
Patriarchias has been attempting to adopt the child (who suffers from microcephaly) but had not been able to reach the birth mother for consent. The child is now in the hands of the New Mexico's child-protection agency and Patriarchias is facing charges of "negligently causing child abuse" and Gonzales faces charges of "negligently permitting child abuse". Both appeared in court Monday and no plea was entered. They are in jail on with $25,000 cash only bonds.
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