Woman accused of caging her special-needs children

A mother was charged with child cruelty and false imprisonment after authorities said her special needs children, an 11-year-old boy and 8-year-old girl, had been kept in homemade cages, investigators said on Friday.

The boy was found on Thursday in one of two cages inside a house in Chatsworth, Georgia, 90 miles north of Atlanta, said Greg Ramey, special agent in charge of the regional field office for the Georgia Bureau of Investigation.

The girl was not restrained when authorities searched the house in response to two emergency calls. But she also had been in a cage "from time to time," Ramey said.

Their mother, Stephanie Stone, 34, was arrested and charged with cruelty to children, false imprisonment and drug possession, he said. Another woman in the house, Wanda Redfern, 49, was charged with child cruelty and false imprisonment.

The boy was being held inside two metal-frame twin beds placed on top of each other and secured with metal hinges and plastic zip ties, said Ramey, describing it a "makeshift cage."

He said the other cage had been fashioned out of a daybed, with wooden rails, metal shelving and a wooden platform on top.

Ramey said the children both had disabilities but did not elaborate. They were placed under the supervision of child protective services and relatives.

He said another person may be charged in the case.