Following a police call to their house, where they discovered their 11-year-old child “being contained within a large metal enclosure,” a Nevada couple was taken into custody, according to authorities on Wednesday.
The Henderson Police Department released a statement after Misty Scanlan, 46, and Jeffrey Scanlan, 41, were taken into custody and charged with one count each of child abuse and neglect. Following the school district’s truancy report, police were called to the Scanlan residence at approximately 10:15 a.m. on Tuesday.
This led to the arrest. After a youngster went missing from school, the school officer went to the residence and discovered that there were cries coming from within, according to CBS station KLAS-TV. The truant officer asked the police for backup assistance.
As the police arrived, it took the father forty minutes to unlock the door. Once inside, the officers discovered an 11-year-old child in a sizable enclosure with closed doors and metal bars, “similar to a jail cell,” the report stated.
The father informed authorities that the youngster had “severe Autism spectrum disorder,” and that the cage was used to regulate his outbursts. The boy was in a diaper, and there was excrement all over the enclosure.
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At the time, there were three other kids living in the house. One of the kids told the authorities that the enclosure had been in the house for two years, but the father said it had been there for six.
According to authorities, there was hardly any furniture in the house, and other bedrooms’ walls had feces all over them. Although it had been a while, the mother told the cops she tried to clean the bedrooms and cage once a week.
The three other children were placed under the supervision of child protective services. The 11-year-old was taken to the hospital.
Online court records show that the Scanlans were both freed on a $5,000 bond the day after they were booked into the Henderson County Detention Center. In May, they are expected to appear in court.
