ROSS COUNTY, Ohio — A mother in Ross County was arrested Thursday morning after deputies conducting a welfare check discovered one of her children zip-tied to a bed.
The mother, identified as Samantha Jo Stilson, reportedly went to work with her boyfriend Wesley Boyer, leaving three children ages 10-15 home alone.
According to an incident report by Ross County deputies, one of the children in the house sent a text to a friend saying that another child in the home was zip-tied to the bed. That friend’s father called authorities for a welfare check.
When they arrived, they knocked at the door and one of the children answered. The child told the officer that her sibling was in her room zip-tied to the bed.
The officer walked in and found the child with their wrist secured to the headboard by a zip tie. Deputies asked the children for a pair of scissors to free the child but were told their mother hid the scissors and were not allowed to remove the zip tie or they would get in trouble.
The children told deputies that Stilson had tied up their sibling the last couple of days so that they “would not make a mess in the house.” The report also says that the children said Stilson was both physically and verbally abusive to them.
They also told deputies that Stilson and Boyer both worked at Bellisio Foods in Jackson, about 16 miles away. Stilson worked 12-hour shifts at the manufacturer and left the house around 3 a.m. that morning after securing the child to the bed.
Stilson and Boyer were arrested at Bellisio Foods. Stilson told deputies that she wasn’t aware of the zip tie and alleged that it was all a set up by the children and their father who does not live at the home.
Stilson is charged with child endangerment and kidnapping, while Boyer is charged with complicity in those crimes.
The children were all placed in the custody of Child Protective Services.
Stilson and Boyer both faced a Chillicothe Municipal Court judge Friday morning. Stilson was given a $100,000 bond and Boyer’s bond was set at $35,000. Both are being held in the Ross County jail.