JONESBOROUGH, Tennessee — A 10-year-autistic girl was found by sheriff’s deputies locked in a wooden cage in a home, leading to the arrest of a couple taking care of her, reports say.
Patricia Laws, 43, and Mickey Sparks, 69, told Washington County deputies that officials with the Department of Children’s Services had approved the arrangement, the Johnson City Press reports.
The couple claimed using the cage, which reportedly was surrounded by dog feces, was the only way to control the girl, according to wcyb.com. They said they had used the cage for the past three or four years.
An official with the Department of Children’s Services said it had not approved of the use of the cage.
Sparks, the child’s father, and Laws have been charged with aggravated child abuse and neglect. They were held on a $50,000 bond at the Washington County Detention Center, wcyb.com reports.
An anonymous tip led deputies to the home at about 5 p.m. Monday, USA Today reports. They found the cage, which had no roof, in a bedroom of the home with a twin-size mattress inside.
The girl was laying on the mattress and a deputy said she did not appear to be in distress, according to wcyb.com.
Three other children who lived in the home and also were removed by children’s services.
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