An eight-year-old developmentally disabled girl who was locked in a wooden cage was found and a woman and her boyfriend have been arrested in the case.
The Las Cruces Sun-News reported that officers that were checking in on the girl's welfare found that she was in a cage the size of a crib in their mobile home and they left her there while her family went to see a movie.
Cindy Patriachias, 33, and Edmond Gonzales, 37, remain in custody after being arrested on Friday. Patriarchias is charged with "negligently causing child abuse" and Gonzales with "negligently permitting child abuse," reported Fox News.
The family lives in Albuquerque New Mexico and Patriachias and Gonzales took her three children to an elementary school to watch a movie. The Associated Press reported that police waited for an hour for them to return to enter the house. What they discovered was the home-made wooden cage that had two latches on the door and a baby's crib mattress inside it. The young girl was inside the 2 ½ feet wide and 4 feet inches tall space.
Police told the AP that she didn't appear to have any physical injuries and was placed under the care of New Mexico's child-protection agency.
"A police spokesman said Patriarchias had been trying to adopt the girl but hadn't been able to reach the girl's birth mother to get her consent. The girl suffers from microcephaly - a condition that gives people an abnormally small head," reported The AP.
Patriarchias and Gonzales were being held on $25,000 cash-only bonds.
Child abuse is a major problem in the U.S. "Every year 3.3 million reports of child abuse are made in the United States involving nearly 6 million children (a report can include multiple children). The United States has the worst record in the industrialized nation - losing five children every day due to abuse-related deaths.," reports childhelp.org.
The after-effects of abuse, last long after childhood ends. Childhelp.org reports, "children who experience child abuse & neglect are 59 percent more likely to be arrested as a juvenile, 28 percent more likely to be arrested as an adult, and 30% more likely to commit violent crime."
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