New Mexican police found an 8-year old girl locked in a cage in a darkened mobile home, said authorities on Tuesday. The girl had developmental disabilities and suffered from microcephaly - a condition that gives people an abnormally small head.
The girl was left alone while her caretakers headed out to watch a movie, police said.
According to the Huffington Post's report, Cindy Patriarchias and Edmond Gonzo took their three children to an elementary school Friday to watch the movie, but Patriarchias' estranged husband soon called police when he arrived at the school and learned that the 8-year-old girl was unattended at the mobile home.
Officers went to the trailer park, only to find a large homemade wooden cage, which had two latches on the door, a baby crib's mattress inside, which was about 2 1/2 feet wide by 4 feet tall in the corner of a bedroom with the girl inside.
Police said that the girl didn't appear to have any physical injuries, and was placed under the care of New Mexico's child-protection agency. A police spokesman reported that 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 33-year-old caretaker, has been charged with negligently causing child abuse. Gonzales, 37, was charged with negligently permitting child abuse. Court records indicated that they appeared in court Monday but had not entered any pleas. The two are being held $25,000 cash-only bonds, and was unclear if they had hired attorneys.
