A suspect arrested after police discovered children chained to a bed in their mother’s apartment is an illegal immigrant with a history of deportation, according to Border Hawk. The police were alerted to potential child abuse and visited the Fairfax County residence on August 15.
When officers knocked on the door, they heard a “chain rattling” inside. Upon entering, they saw a chain “wrapped around a post next to a sleeping cot” in the living room, as reported by Fox 5.
Two boys were found with gouges on their legs that matched the “shape and size of the chain.” Police interviewed the other occupants of the apartment, including the boys’ mother, Wendi Del Cid Rodriguez, 47, and her boyfriend, Franklin Arquimedes Viera-Guevara, 29.
Both Rodriguez and Viera-Guevara admitted to chaining “the children up by the ankle for short periods of time to ‘scare them’ so they wouldn’t leave the apartment.” They claimed the children were not left alone while chained.
However, a third witness, a roommate, contradicted this story, stating that the couple often left the boys “unsupervised and restrained” and would only unchain them when they were home.
One of the boys managed to use the roommate’s smartphone to take a photo of the situation and sent it to their sister, who then called 911, prompting police action.
Rodriguez and Viera-Guevara were both arrested and charged with two counts each of abduction, child neglect, and child cruelty. Rodriguez was detained at the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center but has since been granted bail. Viera-Guevara remains in custody at the same facility without bail. Border Hawk reports that Viera-Guevara is an illegal immigrant from El Salvador who has been deported at least once.
Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) confirmed Viera-Guevara’s status: “U.S. Border Patrol arrested Viera on November 1, 2018, after he unlawfully entered the United States near McAllen, Texas. He was processed for expedited removal and deported to El Salvador on February 1, 2019.”
ICE further noted that “Viera unlawfully re-entered the United States on an unknown date, at an unknown location, without being inspected, admitted, or paroled by a U.S. immigration official.”