SAN ANTONIO — Two adults have been taken into custody in the San Antonio area for suspected child abuse that included chaining a 2-year-old child to the ground and putting another on a leash tied to a door, officials said on Friday.
Deputies arrived at a home late on Thursday after receiving complaints from neighbors about children crying in the yard, the Bexar County Sheriff’s office said.
A total of eight children were at the residence but sheriff’s office spokesman James Keith said there were no adults present when deputies arrived.
The two adults, later taken into custody and not yet named, are thought to be parents to several of the children. The two children bound in the backyard of the home were children of an acquaintance of the adults, the sheriff’s office said.
When deputies arrived at the home they found a 2-year-old boy chained to the ground “like you would an animal,” Keith said. “A few feet away we found a little girl who was tied to a door with a dog leash.”
Keith said the deputies sent the two children to a hospital, where they were being treated for a variety of injuries. He said there was evidence indicating they had been abused before.
“When deputies went inside the house, they found six more children. The youngest was 10 months old, the oldest was 13 years old, no parents, no adults,” he said. “These kids had all been left to fend for themselves.”