(CNN) — Evidence in the case of a Michigan boy who vanished for nearly two weeks before turning up in his father’s basement may be turned over to prosecutors as early as Wednesday, authorities said.
The information being presented to Detroit prosecutors includes allegations that the 12-year-old boy, Charlie Bothuell, made to county child welfare authorities.
The agency opened an investigation of the family June 23 after FBI agents looking into the boy’s disappearance interviewed his grandmother.
That same day, the boy’s father allegedly told investigators that he used a PVC pipe to discipline him, leaving a scar on the boy’s chest, according to a petition filed with the Wayne County Department of Health & Human Services. There was blood on the pipe, and old scars on the boy’s buttocks, the petition said. The timing of the injuries is unclear, police said.
“We are close to getting ready to submit our package to prosecutors,” police Sgt. Michael Woody told CNN, adding the evidence could be turned over Wednesday.
The Wayne County Prosecutor’s Office will decide whether criminal charges will be filed.
Mark Magidson, an attorney for the boy’s father and stepmother, did not immediately return calls Wednesday seeking comment.
Charlie Bothuell IV told authorities his son ran away after being scolded for exercising doing his chores.
The FBI interviewed the boy as part of the investigation.
The petition quoted the boy’s grandmother as saying that he appeared thin and sickly when she last saw him. “He had marks all over his arms and chest,” the grandmother is quoted as saying.
The FBI declined comment beyond acknowledging that agents met with the child.
Charles Bothuell IV, and stepmother, Monique, have two other children. Both were taken into protective custody, investigators said. The child’s father is not allowed to have any contact with Charlie while the investigation continues.
The boy was discovered June 25 in the basement of his father’s home, behind a barricade after numerous searches of the home in the days following his disappearance on June 14.
Police said the boy had snacks and a sports drink in the basement. He told police his stepmother allegedly told him to hide there and “not to come out, no matter what he hears,” according to court petition.
Charlie Bothuell IV learned his son was found during a taped interview last week with HLN’s Nancy Grace, when he said he no idea the boy was in the basement. The boy’s stepmother, charged with an unrelated probation violation involving a gun, pleaded not guilty in that case.
A lie detector test taken by the father was inconclusive, police said. The boy’s stepmother declined to take a polygraph. The tests are not permitted to be used as evidence at trial.
Charlie is staying with relatives, police said.
