LOGAN, Utah – A judge set bail at $10,000 Thursday for a Utah father accused of chaining his 6-year-old son to a bed while the man was at work.
The 28-year-old man made his initial court appearance via a video that was played in a courtroom in Logan, Utah, reports the Herald Journal of Logan (http://bit.ly/TPvASs ).
The Associated Press is not naming the man to avoid identifying the child.
In addition to setting bail, the judge assigned him a public defender, Dave Perry. The man asked to be given a different attorney who had represented him previously on a different case, but that request was denied by the judge.
The man is due back in court Monday.
Investigators believe he chained his son to the bed post for 10 straight days when he left for work, unchaining him when he got home. The man did general labor for $13 an hour at a company that makes flood-containment systems in Logan, new court records show.
The man was arrested Tuesday after police went to the house on an anonymous tip and found the boy shackled to the bed, home alone.
The boy had water and snacks and just enough slack to reach the bathroom, Logan City Police Chief Gary Jensen said. The heavy, tow or logging-style chain was attached to the boy's ankle, Jensen said.
The boy is with child welfare services, which is looking for the boy's biological mother to see if she is fit to care for the boy, Jensen said.
Authorities also are exploring whether the father's live-in girlfriend knew about what was going on, Jensen said. She and her children lived with the father in the house. She has not been arrested or charged.
The other children in the house go to day care each day, the Herald Journal reported, based on court records.
Online state court records show the father was convicted of felony forgery and theft in 2009. He was arrested in 2011 when he broke the terms of his probation.
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Information from: The Herald Journal, http://www.hjnews.com
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