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Grandmother, Her Boyfriend Allegedly Locked Grandkids In Wire Dog Cage
After a child told their teacher that they were locked up in a cage for punishment at home, their grandmother Brenda Dennison and her boyfriend Adrian LeSure were charged with abuse.
A Mississippi grandmother and her boyfriend are accused of locking her grandchildren in a dog cage.
A student at East Tate Elementary School told a teacher that they would get locked up in a cage at home when they got into trouble, WMC-TV reports. In turn, the school contacted the Tate County Sheriff’s Office on Tuesday, a spokesperson for the department told Oxygen.com over email on Thursday.
"The Law Enforcement Referral stated that the grandparents were locking their grandchildren in a cage as a form of punishment," they stated.
Deputies and Child Protective Services went to the home in question and allegedly found a metal dog cage with a locking device. They believe they uncovered enough evidence to eventually prove that at least two of the four children who lived inside the home were abused by being placed inside the cage. Tate County Sheriff Brad Lance believes that the cage was used as a form of punishment, just as the elementary school student told their teacher.
Brenda Dennison, 51, and her 52-year-old boyfriend Adrian LeSure were arrested on Wednesday on a charge of felony child abuse as a result, the Associated Press reports. Additional charges may be filed against the couple, Tate County told Oxygen.com over email.
The four children at the home have been placed in the custody of Child Protective Services. The children range in age from 4 to 9. Officials believe that the two elder children, ages 6 and 9, were both put in the cage, WREG reports.
It is not clear if either Dennison or LeSure has an attorney who could speak on their behalf.
Lance specified that no children were inside the cage during their search of the home. The child who told their teacher about the cage apparently did so to avoid getting in trouble at school, reportedly making the revelation as part of a plea to their teacher so that they wouldn’t be punished at home for wrongdoing at school, WMC reports.
“I’ve never had to deal with this type of situation since I’ve been in law enforcement and it’s very disturbing,” TCSO Captain Lisa Sanders told WREG. “If something is said that just doesn’t seem right, report it. Let us look into it. Let us determine if it is nothing or it is something. Phone calls and people just speaking up saves lives.”
