14 DAY TRIAL // A disabled 8-year-old girl has been found locked in a wooden cage in Las Cruces, New Mexico. The girl's mother and her boyfriend have been arrested, reports say.
33-year-old Cindy Patriarchias is being charged with negligence leading to child abuse while her live-in boyfriend, Edmond Gonzales, 37, is facing charges of negligently permitting child abuse.
Patriarchias was adopting the child, having already started the process and putting in the necessary paperwork.
Las Cruces Sun News details that police responded to a complaint about possible child abuse at her residence, on Friday, January 25, at 7:30 p.m.
Patriarchias and Gonzales were not at home at the time, having taken their three other children to watch a movie sponsored by Columbia Elementary School. Police noticed a statue of three kids on a log, hugging each other, on the front yard.
When the family returned home after an hour, they were questioned by law enforcement officials, and agreed to let them inside. The cage was discovered in the bedroom, with nobody else at home while they were out.
Officers were told that Patriarchias's daughter suffers from a condition called microcephaly, making her head smaller than average and causing delays in her mental development.
The cage had probably been a home project, built about the size of a crib. It was described as being 29 inches (73 cm) wide, 60 inches (152 cm) long and 49.5 inches (125 cm) tall. Two latches on its door prevented the girl from escaping it.
There's a mattress inside it, allowing her to sleep in the cage. It was also very small, the size that one would use in a baby crib.
The parents were imprisoned at Doña Ana County Detention Center, on $25,000 bond each. An investigation into the abuse case is still ongoing.