LATINO BLOTTER: Woman Shackles Son, 10, to Keep Him From Trouble

A California mother is facing criminal charges after she allegedly shackled her young son inside their home.

Irma Navarro says she chained up her 10-year-old son to prevent him from going out and getting into trouble.

The 37-year-old was arrested after two women walking past Navarro’s apartment on Thursday complex saw the boy on the ground text to a tree. The boy’s legs, which had been crammed into one leg of a pair of shorts, were chained together.

He told the women his mother had chained him up and they called the police.

The boy told officers what his mother had done and said he was able to escape the apartment and hop out to the complex’s courtyard where the women found him.

According to the Santa Ana Police Department, Navarro believed her son was getting involved with local gangs and claimed her son was okay because she left him with food and game to play when she left that morning.

A police spokesman said, ‘‘She was having a problem with her 10-year-old, who takes off and doesn’t come back until 9 or 10 at night. She’s afraid he’s getting tied up into gangs,” he said. “It was a matter of frustration on her part, but it doesn’t justify committing a crime. That doesn’t justify shackling your kid.”

He went on to say Navarro, who has two other children, had first tried restraining her son at the wrists, but he was able to escape his bindings.

One child was with a babysitter and the other at school. Navarro told authorities she could not afford a babysitter for two children. All three children were taken by child protective services. They are now at Orangewood Children’s Home in Orange County.

Navarro has been charged with willful cruelty to a child and her bail was set at $100,000. She was scheduled to appear in court on Monday.

Published in Latino Daily News