Ohio parents accused of fencing 4-year-old in bed

LANCASTER, Ohio (AP) — The parents of a 4-year-old girl who authorities say was confined at night in a bed wrapped with steel mesh fencing have been charged with kidnapping and child endangerment.

Fairfield County deputies found they cage-like contraption when they were responding to a domestic violence call from the family's home in central Ohio, county Sheriff Dave Phalen said Thursday.

He said the girl was not in the bed at the time, but that when deputies questioned the parents about the fencing, they told them they confined the girl in her bed at night to keep her from getting up.

A county Municipal Court judge on Thursday set bond at $500,000 each for Russell Terry, 34, and Jamie Curnell, 32, of Pleasantville. They remained in the county jail.

Court officials said there were no attorneys listed yet for Terry or Curnell, who were each charged with single counts of kidnapping and child endangerment.

The sheriff said the kidnapping charge involved "unlawful restraint" of the child.

Phalen said the girl and an 8-month-old sibling were removed from the home and were in the custody of the county's child protective services.

The steel wire surrounded the lower bunk bed where the girl slept, and a door had been fashioned into the steel fence, the sheriff said. It had a screen-door hook and a sliding dead bolt on the outside.

"Aside from the concern about psychological damage from the child being kept in a cage-type setting, there is also the concern that in a fire or another emergency the child couldn't get out," Phalen said.

He described the home as "filthy, without even a sheet on the girl's bed."

County Prosecutor Gregg Marx said his office is considering additional charges and expects to present the case to a grand jury this month.

Pleasantville is about 40 miles southeast of Columbus.