ERIE, Colo., Oct. 23 (UPI) -- A Colorado couple face false imprisonment, child abuse and neglect charges for allegedly keeping the woman's mentally challenged son locked in his bedroom.
Police say Amanda Jolliff, 36, and her boyfriend, Richard Smith, 31, locked up Jolliff's 14-year-old son in their rodent-infested Erie home, rarely fed him and only let him out three times a day, KUSA-TV, Denver, reported.
Jolliff and Smith were arrested in September when they left the boy home alone while they took a vacation in New York, KDVR-TV reported.
The boy broke out of the house and hid under a neighbor's porch, who found him and called the police.
The investigating officer said the boy's living conditions were dismal.
"Upon entering the residence, I detected an overpowering odor of animal urine and feces," Erie Police Cpl. Aaron Haddox said. "My nose began running, my throat became irritated and my eyes were burning. I observed mice running everywhere in the residence as I walked through. The entire residence was contaminated with mice droppings on all surfaces."
The boy told investigators he was taken out of school in 2008 and received no further education.
Both Jolliff and Smith are being held on $20,000 bonds in the Weld County Jail.
