A Utah couple is in jail, accused of abusing their 13-year-old son and locking him in a makeshift cell. Police responded to a disturbing call at a home in Kearns, on August 26. When they arrived, they found the boy padlocked in an alcove under the stairs.
The boy's father, Travis Peterson, 49, and his stepmom, Melissa Gray, 42, apparently didn't think they'd done anything wrong, but police disagreed. They arrested the pair and booked them into the Salt Lake County Jail on child abuse charges.
More from CafeMom: Mom of Ohio Boy, 6, Allegedly Handcuffed & Mauled by a Pit Bull Faces Felony Charges
The boy allegedly endured horrific abuse.
Fox 13 reported that officers found the boy in the alcove behind padlocked gates, barring him from escaping. When he spoke to officers on the scene, he reportedly told them he'd been in the cell for at least a day and that Gray had spanked him for yelling in the house.
Sergeant Aymee Race with Unified Police told Fox 13 it was a heartbreaking scene. "Keeping [kids] behind makeshift cells is not the way children should be raised," she said.
The parents didn't appear to feel guilty about the situation.
According to an arrest report obtained by Fox 13, Peterson and Gray were trying to teach the boy a lesson. They wanted him "to see what it was like in a city and the real world."
Police say the boy told them he was lonely living in isolation. He told police prior to being locked in the alcove he was in another makeshift cell for months and only allowed to get out to use the bathroom.
Peterson reportedly told police he was a bit concerned about losing his job in the health care industry. "The nation and world are cracking down on this sort of thing," he said.
The stepmother made a concerning post on social media.
She shared a picture of Peterson and a boy with the caption, "Honey teaching ethyn how to mow a lawn."
In light of the recent allegations, the picture disturbed people.
"You literally get off on the abuse so much you posted it online in a vague way, yuck," someone wrote. Another person observed, "Looks more like he's threatening him."
"This is so sad. My parents live 3 houses down and I lived there a few years ago too. My brother was sorta friends with his older brother. So sad to hear what has happened to those poor kids," someone claiming to be a former neighbor wrote.
The teen's older brother allegedly endured similar abuse.
Police reportedly learned the teenager's 22-year-old brother allegedly experienced similar abuse and was locked up when he was younger and forced to defecate in a dresser drawer.
"These cases always hit home," Race admitted. "These are young children who are being raised by people that should be taking care of them, providing them food, water, shelter, care, love, and not in these conditions."
More from CafeMom: Man Arrested After Allegedly Throwing His 10-Year-Old Out of Car on a Busy Highway
Police urged people to speak up if they suspect abuse.
Race said, "If you see something, say something," Race added. "It's a very old saying, but it's very true."
Police would never have known what was happening in the home if someone hadn't spoken up.
Laurieann Thorpe, the executive director of Prevent Child Abuse Utah, shared a statement with Fox 13 that reads in part, "Incidents like this one underline how important it is to prevent abuse from ever happening in the first place. Children deserve safety. Child abuse, and this case specifically, are particularly insidious because the very people whose responsibility it is to provide safety are the ones who have done the harm."
If you suspect child abuse, you can call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-422-4453 (1-800-4-A-Child) or go to Childhelp.org. The hotline is available 24/7.
