Unbelievable reason parents locked their four children in cages at night is revealed as they learn their fate

Minnesota parents will spend the next few years behind bars for locking their four children in cage-like beds at night “to keep them from dying” and neglecting them.

Benjamin Taylor Cotton, 42, and Christina Ann Cotton, 40, were sentenced Friday to four years in prison, credited for the four days they had already served, after each pleaded guilty in September to a child torture charge. KSTP reports.

The couple was originally charged in June 2023 with two counts of child torture, seven counts of neglect or endangerment of a child and seven counts of malicious punishment of a child. according to WXOW.

But as part of a plea deal, Christina pleaded guilty to one count of child torture, while Benjamin pleaded guilty to one count of child torture liability. All other charges against them were subsequently dropped.

These charges stem from a report to the Goodhue County Health and Human Services department on August 17, 2022, when a caller expressed concern about their four young children.

The caller claimed that one of the children was locked in a wooden cage in their bedroom and not allowed to use the toilet, and that all the children were punished by being duct taped, left in closets, and denied food. Republican Eagle reports this.

A Red Wing police officer and a social worker then went to Cotton’s home to conduct a welfare check the next morning.

Christina let them into the house but became upset when she was informed of the call stating that the children were being held in cages and claiming that they were “locked up for their own safety,” according to court documents obtained by KTSP.

Christina Ann Cotton, 40, and her husband, Benjamin Taylor Cotton, 42, will spend the next four years behind bars after pleading guilty to charges related to child torture

At that point, the officer and social worker asked about the children’s whereabouts and found a two-year-old in a playpen covered by a dog gate, which was tied down so the toddler couldn’t get out.

A five-year-old and a seven-year-old were also found in a bunk bed that police said had been “converted into a real cage with a homemade wooden door,” and a nine-year-old was found downstairs unconfined.

The researcher and social worker then told Christina that she couldn’t lock her children up and had to let them out, to which she allegedly replied, “You don’t understand,” and claimed that she locked them up to keep them from dying.

She explained that one of her children once got hold of a knife and she was afraid they might end up in household chemicals.

Christina then allegedly told the police officer and social worker that if one of her children died it would be the fault of the police and social services.

A police officer and a social worker arrived at their home in August 2022 and found the children locked in cages

Christina also claimed that the children were only locked up at night and were still in a cage at that time because she had slept that morning, but authorities later determined that the children had been in a cage for at least 13 hours before the investigator and the social worker arrived.

They were taken to a local hospital for examination in the aftermath, and a doctor discovered the two-year-old was in a dirty diaper that had been duct taped to his skin.

The five-year-old and the nine-year-old also had extensive and significant bruising, and the seven-year-old had bruising consistent with a blow from a belt or similar object.

The child then informed authorities that his hands were taped behind his back and that he was beaten with a belt when he didn’t do his chores, court documents show.

He claimed his father would hit him hard, but his mother “hits him very, very hard.”

The children also allegedly told authorities that they could not use the bathroom at night, so they had to “hold it down.”

But the nine-year-old was reluctant to talk, telling authorities her parents “didn’t want them talking about problems.” She feared her parents would find out if she told them anything, according to court documents.

A licensed psychologist concluded that the children’s physical and emotional abuse could be attributed to intrafamilial child torture, and a subsequent investigation found that the Cottons had locked their children in a cage for approximately four years.