Nevada parents kept 11-year-old child in metal cage, police say

HENDERSON, Nevada — An investigation into why an 11-year-old boy was missing school led to the discovery that he was being kept in his home in a metal enclosure by his parents, police say.

Misty Scanlan, 46, and Jeffery Scanlan, 41, each have been charged with one count of child abuse/neglect, according to the Henderson Police Department. Both are being held in jail.

Police say they were called on Tuesday by the Clark County School District to assist with a “truancy issue” involving a student. When they arrived at the student’s home, they found child was “being contained within a large metal enclosure,” a news release says. Police also say the home’s conditions were “inhospitable.” Feces reportedly was on the floor, walls and ceiling of the home in multiple rooms.

KLAS Channel 8 reports there were three other children in the home. Jeffery Scanlan initially told police that the children had not attended school because they were sick. KLAS reports the 11-year-old has “severe Autism spectrum disorder.”

The enclosure had been in the home for several years, KLAS reports. The 11-year-old boy was sent to a hospital and the other children were turned over to family services.