CHILD ABUSE ARRESTS Detectives with the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office have arrested two people after they admitted to locking a young boy in a closet for hours at a time.
On Sunday, deputies were called to a Tampa home for reports of a missing child. Once at the residence deputies located the boy who had been hiding in the home. Deputies cleared the call.
A short time later, deputies returned to the scene to conduct an investigation into potential child abuse. The boy told deputies he has been handcuffed and forced to stand in a closet as a punishment. The boy said this "punishment" has been happening for about 16 hours every day for the past few weeks.
While talking with detectives, John Hernandez, 41, admitted to handcuffing the boy and putting him in the closet as a punishment for behavioral issues from 5 a.m. to 9 p.m.
Natasha Dabbs, 37, told detectives she knew the punishment was taking place and did not try to prevent it. Dabbs says this has been happening since December 25, 2020.
Hernandez and Dabbs were arrested and booked into the Orient Road Jail.
"๐ง๐ต๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐ฐ๐ผ๐๐ฝ๐น๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ต๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ถ๐ฏ๐น๐ฒ," said Sheriff Chad Chronister. "๐ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐๐ผ ๐ฝ๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ฑ ๐ผ๐ณ ๐ผ๐๐ฟ ๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐๐๐ถ๐ฒ๐ ๐ณ๐ผ๐ฟ ๐ป๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ผ๐บ๐ฒ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ฎ๐ ๐ป๐ผ๐ ๐ฟ๐ถ๐ด๐ต๐ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐น๐ฒ ๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ ๐๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฒ ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ป๐ถ๐๐ถ๐ฎ๐น ๐ฐ๐ฎ๐น๐น ๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐ณ๐ผ๐น๐น๐ผ๐๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐๐ต๐ฟ๐ผ๐๐ด๐ต. ๐ง๐ต๐ฒ๐ถ๐ฟ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป๐ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ฒ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฒ๐ฑ ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ๐๐ป๐ด ๐ฏ๐ผ๐'๐ ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ."
The name, age of the victim and the relationship between the victim and suspects will not be released due to Marsy's Law.
This is an ongoing and active investigation.
Photo: HCSO