Nevada Parents Arrested After 11-Year-Old Son with Autism Found Locked in Filthy Metal Cage

Police alleged in an arrest declaration that the cage was "similar to a jail cell"

Two Nevada parents have been arrested after police were called to their home about school truancy issues and allegedly discovered the couple’s 11-year-son locked inside a filthy cage, authorities said.

On April 23, Misty Scanlan, 46, and Jeffery Scanlan, 41, were taken into custody and booked into the Henderson Detention Center on one count each of child abuse/neglect, the Henderson Police Department said in a statement.

At 10:15 a.m. that morning, Henderson Police officers responded to the 2000 block of Silverton Drive to help the Clark County School District Police Department with a truancy issue involving a student, the Henderson Police Department said in the statement.

A truancy officer who had been to the home earlier said no one had answered the door, but the officer “could hear a child screaming and a gate rattling inside,” according to a declaration of arrest obtained by PEOPLE.

On April 23, officers waited for about 40 minutes outside the Scanlans' house for someone to open the door, according to the arrest declaration.

When Jeffery finally opened the door, he allegedly told police his children had missed school because they were sick, the declaration said.

Officers asked Jeffery if they could check on his children and he said yes.

Once inside, the officers allegedly found an 11-year-old boy inside a large enclosure which had metal bars and locked doors that was “similar to a jail cell,” according to the declaration.

The cage, which was in the living room, had feces on its floors and walls, the declaration alleged.

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The boy, who Jeffery identified as his son, had been diagnosed with “severe Autism spectrum disorder," according to the declaration.

Jeffery allegedly told officers they kept the boy, who was wearing only a diaper, in the cage because the boy is “big and strong” and “can be very aggressive when he wants something,” according to the declaration.

The rest of the house was “extreme disarray and smelled of feces,” the declaration alleged.

While searching the home, police allegedly found two bedrooms with little or no furniture with feces on the walls, ceilings, and floors, according to the declaration.

Three other children were at home when the officers came for the welfare check. Misty came home after work, according to the declaration.

Child Protective Services responded to help police and removed other children from the home, the release said.

The Scanlans were released on a $5,000 bond each on April 24, KLAS reports. They are scheduled to appear in court in May.

It is unclear whether they have retained attorneys.

Anyone with information in this case is urged to call the Henderson Police Department at 702-267-4911, 3-1-1, or, to remain anonymous, call Crime Stoppers at 702-385-5555 or visit the Crime Stoppers website.

If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.

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