VA - 6 yr old tied up in bedroom for taking food

Oh My GOSHHHH. This is absolutely horrible. And their only being held on a $1500 bond???
 
Yet another unthinkable case :(



ROANOKE, Va. — Relatives of a 6-year-old girl in southwestern Virginia are accused of punishing her for taking food from the kitchen by repeatedly tying her up in a bedroom, surrounded by rubber snakes and spiders to scare her, police said Tuesday.

The girl's grandmother, aunt and uncle were in the Bristol, Va., jail on charges related to child abuse.

Bristol Police Sgt. Steve Crawford said there was evidence the girl was restrained in an apartment bedroom various times through July, including one week straight. He said police have reason to believe the practice had gone on longer than that.

"The little girl had taken food from the kitchen into her bedroom," Crawford said. "This was their solution. It was described to me as 'time out."'

The girl's aunt, Virginia Ramos, allegedly bound the girl's ankles and sometimes her wrists with some kind of fabric, Crawford said. Police have not found the restraints.

The girl, whose identity was not released, often was left on a bed and surrounded by five to 10 rubber snakes and spiders because they frightened her, the sergeant said.

Ramos and the grandmother, Elsie Reyes, 46, and uncle, Roberto Leiva, 25, were arrested Saturday and were "on lockdown" in the jail on $1,500 bond. Arraignment was set for Monday, when Crawford said the three would have attorneys appointed.

Ramos and Reyes were charged with abuse and neglect and reckless disregard for life. Leiva was charged with being an accessory. Police said other charges may be pending.

Reyes faces the same charges as Ramos because the grandmother was the girl's primary caretaker. Crawford said Leiva knew the girl was being bound and did nothing to stop it.

The three were arrested after the Department of Social Services received an anonymous complaint.

Police were looking for the girl's parents, who were not in the area. The girl was being cared for by another family member and would be examined to determine if she was malnourished.

Crawford said Ramos and Leiva moved a couple of months ago from Springfield, Mass., to Bristol, a city that straddles the Virginia-Tennessee line about 150 miles southwest of Roanoke. Reyes has lived in the city a longer time.


http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,538950,00.html
 
There's a thread on this here: [ame="http://www.websleuths.com/forums/showthread.php?t=87678"]VA - 6 yr old tied up in bedroom for taking food - Websleuths Crime Sleuthing Community[/ame]

Isn't horrible? It so pizzes me off, I can't even tell you. These people were on a complete power trip.

Salem
 
When teaching at a Daily Vacation Bible Camp back in the day, I had a lively little student who was a foster kid of a family in my neighbourhood - her birth family had done similar things to her, as well as locking her in a closet, etc. I'll admit she was an absolute handful, but her story really drew my compassion (even though I was at the very callous age of 16). This kind of abusive punishment has lingering effects on kids in all sorts of aspects of their lives, as well as everyone there after who tries to help them or work with them. I feel for this child and the tough row she has to hoe in the future, as I doubt this was the first instance of inappropriate discipline.
 
Salem- Sorry, I didn't see the thread. Thanks for showing it to me :) Hopefully the mods can merge them.
 
How cruel that is terrible, the whole situation was uncalled for. Shame on those people. Salem are you from Salem?
 
December 2011:

BRISTOL, Va. – Virginia Ramos should have taken the six-month plea deal originally offered by prosecutors on the abuse and neglect charge.


Instead, the woman who pleaded guilty in January to tying up her 6-year-old niece in July for sneaking food from the kitchen tried to garner sympathy from the sentencing judge Wednesday by blaming her two co-defendants.

It didn’t work.

Ramos received a three-year prison stay – triple the one-year agreement brokered by the girl’s grandmother, and six times more than the half-year deal the uncle finished serving last month...

The girl, with her mother and father incarcerated, lived with her aunt, Ramos, grandmother, Elsie Reyes, 46, and uncle, Roberto Leiva, 23.M...


He read from Ramos’ written confession detailing one punishment session: “I actually tied her legs together for a week without taking it off. She had to hop around ... to go to the bathroom.”

http://m.heraldcourier.com/news/vir...6d1-8fb4-5647-ba91-00dfe4e29c53.html?mode=jqm
 

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