By Kevin Conlon
(CNN) — A New Jersey mother is under arrest, accused of keeping her 10-year-old son chained to a radiator in her bedroom for the past two weeks.
Florence Pollard, 31, and her boyfriend, Brian Craig, 29, were arrested Monday and charged with endangering the welfare of a child and criminal restraint, the Camden County Police Department said.
Police say the boy managed to escape from the home Monday afternoon. He was spotted by a neighbor, who alerted authorities.
When police arrived, the child told them that he was chained in his mother’s bedroom day and night as punishment and that he had to sleep uncovered on the floor.
He also said that his hands were occasionally restrained by plastic zip ties.
“This level of depravity inflicted upon a child is chilling,” Chief J. Scott Thomson said in a statement.
“We’re just thankful that the child had an opportunity to escape and report what has been going on so we could arrest this couple and put a stop to their cruelty.”
The boy and his five siblings — two sisters and three brothers ranging in age from 11 to 7 months — were taken into custody by the New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency.
Pollard and Craig — who is the father of the 7-month-old — were remanded to the county jail on $50,000 bond.
Authorities are continuing to investigate in Camden County, which is across the Delaware River from Philadelphia.
The-CNN-Wire
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