"John" GARDNER-SLEBODA - 7 yo - Scranton PA

A Pennsylvania couple was missing after their 7-year-old son was
found locked in a dark, bug-infested basement wearing a diaper, police
said.
Lori Gardner, 26, and Brian Sleboda, 31, face felony counts of
endangering the welfare of a child and unlawful restraint, The
(Scranton) Times Tribune reported Tuesday.

Chief Dan Duffy said the police are searching for the couple, who went missing after police discovered the boy.

The child was found in the couple's Scranton home after neighbors heard him crying Sept. 26.

"Are you here to help me?" the boy reportedly asked police.


The boy told police his parents locked him in a coffin in the
basement as punishment. He said they often duct-taped his arms and
scared him by saying ghosts were in the basement.

The house -- which shows evidence of fire, has electrical issues and is infested with bugs -- has been condemned by the city.

Read more: http://www.upi.com/Top_News/US/2011/10/04/Pa-boy-locked-in-coffin-parents-missing/UPI-97771317769140/#ixzz1ZsN6QtuU

A Pennsylvania couple is behind bars after
allegedly forcing their 7-year-old son to sleep inside a locked coffin
and often punishing him by placing him in their bug-infested, nearly
pitch-black basement after warning him about ghosts, The Times-Tribune reported.


Scranton police, after being alerted by
neighbors about the crying child, found the boy in the basement of the
condemned home, the paper reported. He was visibly upset and was dressed
in a school shirt and diaper, police said.


The couple turned themselves in Tuesday afternoon. It's not clear if they have an attorney.



The mother, Lori Gardner, 26, and
stepfather, Brian Sleboda, 31, each face felony counts of endangering
the welfare of a child and unlawful restraint.


The boy, when found, apparently had not
eaten dinner and asked the police if they had come to help him. He went
on to describe to police nightmarish living conditions.


He told police he had been locked inside a
home-made wooden coffin, and the couple would “often” punish him by
putting him in the dark basement right after telling him that ghosts
live there, the Times-Tribune reported. The couple then would “pick up
chains and drop them to scare him,” the paper reported.


The child told police he sometimes was
locked in the basement the whole day, police said, and he had to wear
the diaper because there is no working bathroom in the basement.


Gardner reportedly denied claims that the boy was locked in their basement but admitted that he was put there for punishment.

Read more: http://www.foxnews.com/us/2011/10/04/pennsylvania-couple-charged-for-allegedly-locking-kid-in-coffin/#ixzz1ZsNd6IZR