Updated

Argentine prosecutors say they've detained a man who kept his troubled wife and autistic son locked in a cage by day over at least two years.

Prosecutor Alejandro Pellegrini says police found the dirt-floor cell at the house of 66-year-old Eduardo Oviedo in the city of Mar del Plata. They acted on a complaint by two of his other children.

Pellegrini says Oviedo's 61-year-old wife has psychiatric problems and the 32-year-old is autistic.

He describes the cell as "a cage with bars and an iron door." Old mattresses, rubble and pet food were found inside. He says the two slept in another filthy room by night.

Oviedo was arrested Friday. He declined to make a statement to a judge Saturday.