A Coral Springs woman is facing abuse charges after police say she kept her teen grandson chained to his bed for years, locked him in his room and forced him to use a bucket to go to the bathroom.
Shirley Roberson Mathis, 58, is facing charges of aggravated abuse of a disabled adult, abuse of a disabled adult, aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment after officers discovered the 19-year-old chained to his bunk bed on Dec. 26, according to a Coral Springs Police report released Tuesday.
According to the report, the teen was found by an officer who responded to the home in the 10000 block of Northwest 2nd Place with investigators with the Department of Children and Families and Broward Sheriff's Office Protective Services.
The teen "was confined within his bedroom with a heavy gauge metal link chain secured to the metal bunk bed frame with 5 locks," the report said, adding he "had approximately 6 feet of slack chain and the other end of the chain was secured around his waist with a padlock."
The bedroom had a strong odor of urine and the floor and his mattress were covered with plastic protective coverings, the report said.
According to the report, the teen told the officer he was chained nightly by his grandmother, who would unlock him in the morning. A small bucket was provided for human waste during the overnight hours, the report said.
The teen told the officer "that he deserved to be chained to the bed and it was for his own good," and "said he would leave the home in the middle of the night and break into neighboring homes to steal food if he was not chained," the report said.
Mathis kept a lock on the refrigerator and pantry, the report said.
The report said Mathis wasn't home and was in North Carolina with her fiance when the teen was found by officers. When she came back on Dec. 28, she was interviewed by officers and admitted to keeping her grandson locked up, the report said.
Mathis told police she started chaining him to his bed after an incident in 2008 when he committed a residential burglary while trying to steal food, the report said. A family member told police their landlord had threatened to evict them if there were any other incidents.
"Mathis stated that she chained him due to her fear of the family being evicted and to keep him from stealing food from the neighbors," the report said.
Police said the teen and his two siblings had been in the care of Mathis since 1997, and that there had been eight prior reports on the home by child protective services, six of them associated with Mathis.
The 19-year-old has mental health issues, and was aggressive with the officer at the scene, police said.
"[He] suffers from a developmental disability and/or mental illness to the point that his ability to perform the normal activities of daily living are restricted," the report said.
The teen was hospitalized and his siblings were seen by the child protection team but refused to provide information or statements regarding the police investigation, the report said.
DCF spokesman Mark Riordan said they're investigating the alleged abuse of the 19-year-old as well as his siblings, who are minors.
“Regarding the minor children, they have been sheltered and placed in non-relative foster care where they will be receiving any and all services they require following a full array of evaluations," Riordan said. "Regarding the adult involved in the case...our adult protective investigators are monitoring his stay in the hospital to ensure he receives all the care and treatment his condition may require and then to ensure a safe and appropriate discharge when he is ready."
The report said other family members knew the teen was chained to his bed, but did nothing about it and even helped lock him up.
Neighbors of the family on Tuesday expressed shock at the allegations.
"To find out that this is going on a couple houses away is incredible," neighbor Cheryl Colvert said. "To take it upon yourself to chain your child down, that's insane."
"Absolutely horrible thing, this is child abuse in its worst form," neighbor Jeffrey Eastman said.
Mathis was arrested on Jan. 6 and released on Sunday. It was unknown whether she has an attorney.
