Couple charged with handcuffing children, locking them in basement of Mt. Oliver home
May 6—An Allegheny County couple faces a slew of assault charges for forcing their children to sleep in locked basement rooms, physically abusing them and handcuffing them, according to police.
Richard Hayes, 37, of Mt. Oliver Borough, and his girlfriend, 26-year-old Natosha Bell, of Rankin, both face more than a dozen charges related to accusations of child abuse made by the three children they have between them.
The chain of events began Wednesday at McClure Elementary School in White Oak when an 11-year-old refused to get in the car with his father at dismissal time, according to the criminal complaint. He clung to a school employee and said he didn't want to be handcuffed again, a witness told police.
Hayes opened the side door of the minivan to try to force the child in the car. The school employee looked in the backseat and saw two other young boys, both handcuffed, according to the complaint.
White Oak officers detained both Bell and Hayes, the latter of whom had a loaded handgun, authorities said. Allegheny County Police responded to the school and took the three boys into emergency custody. The criminal complaint refers to the children only as John Does: the 11-year-old is John Doe 1, the 10-year-old is called John Doe 2 and the 7-year-old is referred to as John Doe 3.
Hayes is the father of John Does 1 and 2. Bell is the mother of John Does 2 and 3, according to police.
In interviews at UPMC Children's Hospital of Pittsburgh, the three boys told of being locked in a small room called "the hole," which police discovered to be an empty coal cellar with no lights, no water, and a concrete floor, according to the complaint.
The three boys each told of being locked in "the hole" for days at a time, with one noting they hadn't seen one of the others in two days, according to the complaint. One said he'd been in the room from Friday through Sunday.
Another basement room was called "the cell," the children told police — a room with a laminate floor and a door that had a deadbolt on the outside, according to the complaint. Police wrote that the room had no mattresses or pillows, and no running water. A makeshift toilet was fashioned out of a bucket, according to the complaint. The youngest said he'd been put the room for taking food when he was hungry, according to the complaint, and he said Hayes made him wear handcuffs in the car.
Both children described other physical abuse, saying Hayes would punch and slap them and hit them with a belt, according to the complaint. The youngest said that, once, Bell held his legs while Hayes forced his head underwater in a bathtub, police wrote.
Hayes confirmed to police that he'd made the boys sleep on the basement floor, that he'd handcuffed them, and he submerged the 7-year-old's head under water, investigators wrote. Bell said Hayes sometimes disciplines the children when she's around, according to the complaint, and she said she'd locked the children in the basement before.
Hayes and Bell both face 14 charges, including aggravated assault, unlawful restraint of a minor, false imprisonment of a minor, child endangerment and simple assault. Hayes is also charged with possessing a weapon on school property.
A judge on Thursday denied bail for Hayes, calling him a danger to the three children. Court dockets did not immediately indicate the status of Bell's bail.
Megan Guza is a Tribune-Review staff writer. You can contact Megan at 412-380-8519, mguza@triblive.com or via Twitter .
