Malnourished 5-year-old caught ‘sneaking food’ is zip-tied for hours and made to complete wall squats ‘longer than anyone in the military should’: Cops

Alease Chambers (St. Louis County Justice Center).

A Missouri mother is behind bars after she allegedly zip-tied her 5-year-old son behind his back and forced him to lay on the ground with his pants at his ankles for hours in the middle of the night.

Alease Teariel Chambers, 26, stands accused of child abuse and kidnapping. The horrific allegations came to light Monday when a friend of Chambers spent a night at their home the previous day. The reporting party alleged that Chambers subjected the boy to “brutal” punishments, detectives with the St. Louis County Sheriff’s Office wrote in a probable cause affidavit.

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On multiple occasions, Chambers would force her son to ball up his fists and would hit his knuckles with her phone, detectives wrote. The friend also accused Chambers of making the boy do wall squats “longer than anyone in the military should.” The defendant also allegedly locked the boy in a closet and blocked him in with a dresser.

Around 3 a.m. the friend allegedly heard the boy “screaming, crying and begging.” Later that morning, the friend said they noticed the boy was not in his room with his brothers.

Downstairs, the boy had his hands zip-tied behind his back on the floor with his pants down around his ankles, cops alleged. The friend recorded the boy’s condition, police said. He was covered in marks and bruises. Chambers later admitted to leaving the boy zip-tied for two or three hours, the affidavit said.