Couple Locks 4-Year-Old In Dog Cage For 14 Hours A Day: Cops

Couple Locks 4-Year-Old In Dog Cage For 14 Hours A Day: Cops

Police in Oklahoma arrested a couple who are accused of keeping a 4-year-old boy locked in a wire dog cage for 14 hours a day.

Suzanne Satterfield, 33, Johnathon Lee, 31, were both charged with child abuse Tuesday, News on 6 reports. Satterfield faces an additional charge of permitting child abuse, while Lee is also charged with the sexual abuse of another child.

Lee allegedly told deputies that for the past three weeks, the Chelsea couple would keep Satterfield's 4-year-old son in the cage at night, during nap time and when he needed to be disciplined. Lee estimated that all together, the boy would be in the cage for about 14 hours a day, according to Tulsa World.

"14 hours is a very, very long period of time," Scott Walton, Rogers County Sheriff, told News on 6. "In this situation, 30 minutes is too long. We don't keep kids in cages."

The child was allegedly restrained inside the cage with plastic handcuffs, according to the New York Daily News.

The stepfather allegedly explained they kept the boy in the cage at night so he wouldn't touch the exposed electrical wires that were lying around the bedroom.

During the investigation, deputies say they found new evidence that led them to charge Lee with the sexual abuse of a 14-year-old girl who also lives in the home.

All three children who live in the home -- ages 4, 7 and 14 -- have been placed in protective custody.

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