A mother from the United States has been sentenced to prison after admitting to the horrific abuse of her young son, who she repeatedly shackled and confined for hours on end while she went to work.
Shocking Excuse for Prolonged Confinement
Chazzity Candelario, 33, from North Lebanon Township, Pennsylvania, pleaded no contest in November to felony charges of unlawful restraint of a minor and false imprisonment of a minor, plus a misdemeanour count of endangering the welfare of children. Her crimes came to light in January 2025 when police were called to her home regarding a boy who had been restrained with handcuffs.
During the investigation, authorities discovered that Candelario had resorted to handcuffing her 11-year-old son to a fuel oil tank in a cramped basement utility room measuring just 3ft by 8ft. She claimed she could not control her children while she was at work. On one particularly disturbing occasion, she confined the boy for a staggering 17 hours as punishment for 'eating too many hot dogs'.
A Pattern of Abuse and a Failed Escape
When officers arrived at the home on January 11, 2025, Candelario was not present. Her children directed police to a bedroom where the victim was found handcuffed to a bunk bed railing. The boy explained to detectives that he had initially been chained in the basement but managed to free himself, only to accidentally re-secure the cuffs to the top bunk.
The young victim revealed this was not an isolated incident. He told authorities he was regularly restrained for extended periods while his mother was at work, sometimes being fastened to a post. Candelario reportedly told police not to question her children before she returned home. Upon her arrival, she repeated her claim that managing her son during work hours was too challenging.
Sentencing and a Mother's 'Evil Will'
On Wednesday, January 7, 2026, Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas Judge Charles Jones sentenced Candelario to serve 16 months to five years in state prison. She declined to speak during the hearing. Her defence lawyer stated she had been 'very sorry, very remorseful' throughout the proceedings.
Lebanon District Attorney Pier Hess Graf delivered a powerful condemnation, stating, 'As a mother, the defendant's sole duty is to care for, love, and protect her children more than anyone else in this world. This defendant instead chained her children up to suffer at her own hand and subject to her own evil will.' Judge Jones echoed this sentiment, telling Candelario, 'No way... should that have happened. You've got to do whatever you can to make it up to your children.'
The case revealed a grim contrast to Candelario's social media presence, where she regularly posted happy family photos. In a cruel twist, a 2021 Halloween photo showed her children dressed as characters from The Addams Family, with one son wearing imitation handcuffs. This was not her first encounter with the law; Candelario faced previous charges in 2017 for endangering child welfare and drug possession related to an incident involving her children.
