NJ Child Chained to Radiator for Two Weeks: Mother and Boyfriend Allegedly Locked 10-Year-Old Boy in Bedroom as Punishment

A New Jersey mother and her boyfriend were arrested on Monday for allegedly cuffing her 10-year-old son to a radiator pipe for two weeks.

Camden County Police told the Associated Press that 31-year-old Florence Pollard and 29-year-old Brian Craig were taken in and charged with child endangerment and criminal restraint. They're currently being held in the county jail on $50,000 bail bonds.

For fourteen days, the young boy was chained up inside the Camden City home on Cramer Street until he could break free and run to a neighbor's house close by.

Pollard called the police after she realized her son was missing, and told authorities that the boy had run away, according to NJ.com. The neighbor then called authorities to inform them the child was a couple blocks down. When police arrived, the boy told them his mother had locked him up to the radiator in her bedroom. He was forced to sleep on the floor with no blankets. He also said his hands were zip tied at some points, as part of the punishment.

Upon searching the apartment, police found a metal chain affixed to the pipe, along with a lock used to constrain the child.

"This level of depravity inflicted upon a child is chilling," Camden Police Chief J. Scott Thomson told NJ.com. "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."

Authorities said they'd continue investigating this "inhuman" case, according to supervisor of the CCPD Special Victims Unit Janell Simpson.

"He could have been seriously injured or died had this continued, so to get this child and his brothers and sister out of that environment was critical," she said. "We will continue the investigation to determine if there have been other abuses."

The boy is one of Pollard's five children-two sisters and two brothers ranging in age from seven months to 11 years. The New Jersey Division of Child Protection and Permanency has taken the five kids into custody.