Police: Boy says he was kept in closet 'because he misbehaves'
Warrant: Boy, 9, says grandparents facing charges punished him
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A 9-year-old boy sheriff's deputies say was kept in closet by his grandparents told investigators he was put in the closet "because he misbehaves," a search warrant filed in the case says.
Deputies seized sleeping pills, a child welfare report, a blue sleeping bag and other items from the home.
Becky Tortellet, 50, and her husband, Larry Alan Tortellet, 52, are being held in the Pima County Jail on $50,000 bond each, accused of child abuse.
The boy, nearly 10, told deputies "the only thing in the closet is his sleeping bag and that he only wears a diaper while in the closet," Detective Miguel Flores told Pima County Superior Court Commissioner Sharon Douglas in obtaining the search warrant.
Deputies seized a plastic bag containing a blue sleeping bag from the Tortellet home on Aug. 25 plus a brown carpet in a trash bag.
Becky Tortellet took the boy to Pantano Behavioral Health Center on Aug. 22 "for assistance with behavioral issues involving" the boy, Flores said.
When Tortellet told a clinic employee that the boy slept in a closet, Child Protective Services was called and the boy and his 8-year-old brother were removed from the Tortellet home in the 6700 block of South Iberia Avenue.
The brothers were interviewed Aug. 25.
The older boy said his bedroom was his closet and the woman he calls "mother," Becky Tortellet, is his grandmother. The boy said he is also put in the closet when he misbehaves or when Becky Tortellet goes to the bathroom.
"(The boy) stated that this is his fault because he misbehaves," Flores told Douglas.
Becky Tortellet told CPS officials "that she has never placed (the older boy) in school, stating 'they can't handle him,' " Flores said.
The brothers both confirmed that the older boy never attended school.
Also seized by deputies from a purse identified as Becky Tortellet's was a two-page report dated Oct. 23, 2006, from the Texas Department of Family and Protective Services marked "Notice of Findings of a CPS Investigation" with her name on it.
The older boy appeared "to be uncommonly pale" and had "difficulty in walking," Flores observed.
Southern Arizona Mental Health Corp. Behavioral Health Services officials told Flores the boy has "social skill deficit and is physically delayed," according to the search warrant affidavit.
"I am bad, horrible and my mom doesn't want me anymore," the boy allegedly told SAMHC officials.
Becky Tortellet said that her daughter dropped the boys off with her and "has not been seen or heard from in years," the Citizen previously reported, citing a Sheriff's Department news release.
The younger boy told detectives he attends second grade and sleeps in his own room, while his brother is "always" in the closet. The younger boy said he enjoys watching movies with his parents while his brother is in the closet.
The younger boy "described sometimes hearing his brother . . . banging on the walls and floor" of the closet, Flores said. The younger boy said "it's because (his brother) is naughty and needs to be put in an institution."
The younger boy said his brother "poops and pees in the closet" and that Becky Tortellet gives him "little white pills that helps him to be quiet."
Deputies seized a prescription bottle of Clonidine, a tranquilizer used to treat insomnia, in Becky Tortellet's name.
The bottle contained 18 whole and 18 broken or halved pills.
A black canvas bag with other unidentified medication also was seized.
The older boy has been placed in a group home, Flores said.
"(He likes) it because he sleeps in a bunk bed and can see out a window," Flores said in the affidavit.
The affidavit doesn't say where the younger son has been placed.
Also, maybe the g-parents were not running cause they used their own names when relocating to Tucson. The g-ma took the eldest to a behavorial clinic and that is when the child spoke up. The boy was very smart. I feel sorry for him because he feels he is a bad boy and so he knows no different. He will need alot of therapy...Prayers...