A Pennsylvania mother who admitted to shackling her 11-year-old son to a fuel tank for up to 17 hours while she went to work has been sentenced to 16 months to five years in prison. Chazzity Candelario, 33, pleaded no contest in November to felony counts of unlawful restraint and false imprisonment of a minor, along with a misdemeanour count of endangering the welfare of children.
According to Lebanon County Regional Police, officers were called to Candelario's home on January 11, 2025, after reports of a boy being restrained with handcuffs. The investigation revealed that the mother had handcuffed her son to an oil tank in the basement. The boy told detectives he was regularly restrained for extended periods while his mother was at work, sometimes fastened to a post.
On one occasion, Candelario confined her son for 17 hours because he ate too many hot dogs, reported WGAL. When police arrived, the boy had managed to free himself from the basement but inadvertently handcuffed himself to a bunk bed railing. Candelario initially told officers not to question her children before she returned home.
Candelario's lawyer stated she was very sorry and remorseful. However, Lebanon District Attorney Pier Hess Graf condemned her actions, saying: 'As a mother, the defendant's sole duty is to care for, love, and protect her children... This defendant instead chained her children up to suffer at her own hand.'
Judge Charles Jones told Candelario: 'No way ... should that have happened. You've got to do whatever you can to make it up to your children.' Candelario had previous legal trouble in 2017 for endangering children and drug offences.
