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A call received by police in Sarasota, Florida, about a suspected kidnapping turned up an even more disturbing situation when officers entered a home to find a child effectively imprisoned in her own home.
In late December, police were called when a 12-year-old girl appeared at the front door of a neighbor’s home. The residents feared she had been kidnapped because when the girl appeared at their door her hands were zip-tied together. There were also zip ties around each of the girl’s ankles.
When police arrived they discovered a horrible tale of abuse the girl had been suffering for years.
According to Fox 13 in Sarasota, the child told investigators her parents, Dr. Eugenio Erquiaga, 51, and his wife Victoria, 53, had a habit of locking up the girl — and often hogtying her — in a plastic playhouse when she misbehaved.
The girl admitted she was sometimes forced to soil herself because of the long hours she was confined inside her plastic prison.
“The ‘playhouse’ is aesthetically pleasing from the outside but can only be described as a glorified cage when examined closer,” the arrest record reads.
Police records also show the couple admitted they sometimes zip-tied the girl’s arms and legs to prevent her from kicking the playhouse apart after she was placed inside.
Other children in the home also attested to the treatment their sister had endured.
In their defense, the couple said they were only trying to prevent their daughter from engaging in tantrums.
The eight children in the household have all been taken into custody by the Department of Children and Families. Charges are pending against the parents.