FLORIDA CITY, FLA. (WSVN) - - A Florida City woman was arrested Wednesday after police said she forced her younger brother to kneel on rice inside a shed for several hours as punishment, leaving him with injuries to his knees.
Nataly Francelia Cruz, 26, was arrested June 10 and charged with child abuse without great bodily harm, according to a Florida City Police arrest affidavit.
Officers responded to a home in the 700 block of Southwest Ninth Street after a neighbor reported that a juvenile boy came to his residence and said he “couldn’t take it anymore” after being forced to kneel on rice inside a shed since around 11 a.m.
According to the affidavit, the boy told officers that Cruz, his older sister and legal guardian, had punished him the same way before.
He said their mother had been deported and Cruz had been caring for him.
Police said they observed injuries on the child’s knees consistent with prolonged kneeling on rice.
The boy also told officers Cruz refused to allow him inside the house to use the restroom while he was being punished.
Cruz was taken into custody and transported to the Florida City Police Department before being booked into the Turner Guilford Knight Correctional Center.
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