SWEETWATER, Fla. (WSVN) — Police have arrested and charged a mother after they received an anonymous call that indicated a man with autism was being kept in dungeon-like conditions inside a South Florida trailer.
Friday, Gladys Jaramillo remains in the Miami-Dade County jail, held on $15,000 bond.
According to Sweetwater Police, they received an anonymous call Thursday evening about an autistic kept in dungeon-like conditions in the area of 11250 N.W. Third Street.
Police believe the 30-year-old was being kept in a small room with a blacked-out window and a rusted iron door with a lock accessible only by the outside. The room had no lighting, no bathroom and a mattress. Police said, when they entered the room it smelled like feces and urine.
When police arrived at the trailer, no one was home, but later the man and his mother arrived. Police said the man had scratches all over his body. "Right now, he is at Kendall Regional Medical Center under medical evaluation," said City of Sweetwater spokesperson Michelle Hammontree.
Police were tipped off to the son's living conditions by someone who they describe in their police report as a private investigator.
The report also states Jaramillo gave her son unknown medication, small yellow pills, in order to sedate him so he would fall asleep while she was away.
Neighbors told 7News they would see Jaramillo walking with her adult son, and at times she would leave the trailer by herself. "No, she doesn't take care of him. She goes to play bingo and she leaves the son alone," said neighbor Raphael Cruz.
Neighbor Pablo Morales said the autistic man would often roam this trailer park in his underwear, looking for food.
However, those who know Jaramillo describe her as a loving mother. "I know Gladys for a year or two years. She is a good person," said neighbor Fausto Sabina.
When Hammontree was asked if the man was being held against his will, she said, "That is being determined right now. What was told to us by the anonymous caller is that he was held for hours at a time inside the room while the mother left, but that was reportedly," said Hammontree.
Police have charged Jaramillo with aggravated abuse on a mentally disabled adult, false imprisonment and other charges.
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