Minneapolis, MN – Minnesota man and his wife, later identified as 42-year-old Benjamln and 40-year-old Cristina, were sentenced to 4 years in prison after pleading guilty to child trture. Initially, both parents were facing a slew of charges, including trture, neglect and malicious punishment of a child, but prosecutors dismissed many of those charges in exchange for a plea deal, court records say.

The investigation process began in August 2022 after the county’s Health and Human Services received a tip concerning the well-being of four children. Authorities in Minnesota also said that the victim’s mom had been behaving erratically and had a history of mental illness. During the investigation process, authorities discovered that at least one of the couple’s children, ages 9, 7, 5 and 2, had been Iocked in a cage. 

Social worker visited the family’s home and asked the mother is they lock any of their children in a cage. According to the court documents, the woman then became angry and told the social worker that “the children were locked up for their own safety,  because if they weren’t caged they would end up dead and it would be the fault” of the police department and Health and Human Services.”

When the responding authorities and social worker visited the children’s bedroom, they discovered that the toddler’s playpen was actually a cage for pets, which was locked on top so the child couldn’t get out. During the investigation process, authorities discovered that the mother would lock her children around 8 p.m. the previous night and would keep them in cages for more than 12 hours. The eldest child, 9-year-old girl, wasn’t locked up, but was covered in bruises, police officials said.

Another child told investigators that his parents use duct tape to tape his hands behind his back. The boy also said that the parents beat him regularly with a belt. 

When the mother was confronted by the social worker that’s unacceptable to lock up her children, the woman insisted the cages were to prevent her kids from dying. The 40-year-old mom told the social worker that at one instance, one of her children escaped his cage and grabbed a knife. Authorities also discovered that the parents locked their children over the course of 4 years. The children suffered severe abuse and health officials say that they might suffer developmental issues as a result of the abuse.