Grandmother gets prison

[Kacey]

Grandmother gets prison

3-year sentence for locking boy in dog crate at night
By Kieran Nicholson
Denver Post Staff Writer

Brighton - A boy who for years was locked in a dog kennel by his grandmother for eight hours at a time is so afraid of her that he refused to attend her sentencing, the boy's foster mother said.

"I felt like I was in a prison in my home," said a letter from the boy that was read in court Friday. "When I was in the cage I felt scared and lonely, and that I was not loved by my grandma."

June Candelario, 62, was sentenced Friday by District Judge Harlan Bockman to three years in prison and one year of probation for felony child abuse.

Candelario, a former Jefferson County Sheriff's Office employee who counseled inmates with emotional problems, locked away her grandson four nights a week for three years - from ages 10 to 13 - while she went to work, according to court testimony and documents.

As the boy grew, he spent hours in the fetal position inside the 46-by-30-by-35-inch plastic kennel.

<snip>

Candelario told the judge she accepts responsibility for what she did and regrets her actions.

"I have made a mess of things," she said.

Reynolds said Candelario had locked up the boy because he was acting out and running away from home. And in Candelario's mind, she was doing it to protect the child.

In handing down the sentence, Bockman scolded Candelario for what she did and dismissed the notion of probation.

"Would this not be a license for anyone to lock up their child when he is acting out?" Bockman said of the request for probation.

Bockman said the sentence should send a message to Candelario and the public as well.

"Let not only you, but society, know - you can't do this to children."

:soapbox:

 

[exile]

When the sorry history of this poor planet is reckoned up, the very worst things that will be laid to our account are the horrific abuses committed by adults against children. Case in point....

 

[MA-Caver]

deserved it... does SHE get locked up in a dog crate for 3 years??... those prison cells are mighty roomy by comparison.

 

[theletch1]

I like the judges response that letting her off easy would be a liscence to others to do the same thing. Wish more judges had the same feeling about child abuse.

 

[dturtleman]

how could she do such a thing? where do people get their crazy ideas, to do stuff like that?