Cops: Father, Son Kept Teen Girl Chained in Basement

The girl says she was kept captive for more than a year
By Michael Harthorne,  Newser Staff
Posted May 19, 2016 5:42 PM CDT
Cops: Father, Son Kept Teen Girl Chained in Basement
Timothy and Esten Ciboro   (Toledo Municipal Court)

A father and son were arrested early Thursday after allegedly keeping a 13-year-old girl shackled in their basement and feeding her old scraps of food for at least a year, WTOL reports. The girl was discovered running away from home Wednesday night in downtown Toledo. She claimed her stepfather kept her chained by the ankle to a support beam in his basement with a bucket for a toilet. She said she escaped when her father and stepbrother went out for a jog. According to the AP, police say they arrived at the girl's home as 53-year-old Timothy Ciboro, 27-year-old Esten Ciboro, two children, and two pets appeared to be attempting to flee in a van with a map and a gun. Timothy and Esten were arrested and charged with kidnapping and child endangerment.

Authorities say a search of the home turned up handcuffs chained to a beam in the basement. The girl told police her mom left her and her siblings with her stepfather and went to Las Vegas, the Toledo Blade reports. She said she hadn't been to school since first grade. She said she was chained in the basement as punishment for wetting the bed for various lengths of time up to a year. The family was investigated by Lucas County Children Services in 2014, but the department didn't see any evidence of abuse. The girl and two other children, who both appeared fine, have been placed in foster care. Timothy Ciboro had been employed as a Toledo firefighter on and off for years. At one point, he was fired after demanding an ice cream stand give his friend a discount. (More kidnapping stories.)

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