Rhea County deputies arrested a mother and her boyfriend Monday morning for child abuse after they found her five-year-old son, who is developmentally challenged, harnessed and bolted to the floor in their Evensville home.
Authorities received reports from a child abuse hotline of a boy being restrained in a room by a harness, which was bolted to the floor.
When deputies arrived, the child was yelling, "out, out" but they say Hall invited them into the home. They found the boy in a room in the mobile home. The room was padlocked from the outside.
The boy told deputies he was "hungry, hungry" and ran to the refrigerator in the home.
The report says that Hall "put her head down and said she knew why I was there," the Rhea County deputy explained.
As deputies entered the home, they also found what they believed to be drugs and related paraphernalia.
Arrest records obtained by Channel 3 show that Monica Hall and Dennis Eugene Couch were charged with child abuse, manufacturing of methamphetamine and unlawful drug paraphernalia. Hall had no previous criminal history but authorities said Couch did and he was on probation at the time of his arrest on Monday.
UPDATE: Rhea County couple charged after boy kept in harness bol - WRCBtv.com | Chattanooga News, Weather & Sports