SARASOTA RADIOLOGIST, WIFE CHARGED WITH CHILD ABUSE AFTER DETECTIVES SAY THEY ZIP-TIED DAUGHTER, CONFINED HER TO "GLORIFIED CAGE"
Jan. 06--SARASOTA -- A Sarasota radiologist and his wife are facing child abuse charges after deputies discovered they routinely tied their 12-year-old daughter using zip ties and confined her inside 1a "glorified cage," according to the Sarasota County Sheriff's Office.
At 3:09 p.m.Dec. 27, deputies responded to a neighbor's house in the 1000 block of Thicket Lane in Sarasota to a report of a possible kidnapping, according to an arrest report. The 12-year-old girl had knocked on the neighbor's front door with zip ties around her hands and ankles and told the neighbor her parents had tied her up and abandoned her at the home.
Detectives called the Florida Department of Children and Families, and a child protective investigator and supervisor came out to interview the victim.
The girl explained to the investigator that her parents would often restrain her with zip-ties and put her in her playhouse for long periods of time, a detective wrote in a warrant affidavit. The door would be secured so she couldn't get out and so she would often be forced to go to the bathroom in her pants, she told investigators.
"(The girl) also explained that when she gets angry her parents will restrain her by securing her hands and feet together and she demonstrated being 'hog-tied' in front of her body," the detective wrote.
The parents, Eugenio Erquiaga, 51, and Victoria Erquiaga, 53, are each charged with aggravated child abuse. The Erquiagas turned themselves in Wednesday morning and are currently being held without bond at the Sarasota County jail.
Eugenio Erquiaga is a radiologist with Radiology Associates of Venice and Englewood.
Continuing their investigation, detectives and DCF investigators went to the Erquiaga home. The couple confirmed they had recently begun restraining the girl with zip-ties after seeing it on a "police episode" on television, a detective reported. They said she regularly ate with the family, often times at the table but other times she was forced to sit on the floor next to the table.
"Mr. and Mrs. Erquiaga explained that zip ties are kept on (the girl's) wrists and ankles at all times so that she could be immediately restrained whenever necessary," the detective wrote. "They explained that (the girl) would have violent outbursts without provocation and they believed she was delighted by the chaos she would create, They believed she needed to be restrained to protect her from herself and to protect the other seven children living within the home."
The Erquiagas escorted the investigators and detectives to the room -- a playhouse in the corner of a loft -- where the girl sleeps.
The playhouse was 5 feet long by 7 feet wide by 7 feet tall, with a door that could be barred shut by a large piece of wood. All but one of the windows had been screwed shut and it reeked of urine. The wooden floor is discolored from form apparently being soiled on repeatedly over a period of time, the detective reported.
"The only working window is located on the side of the structure that is approximately six inches from the wall of the home, making it impossible to escape," the detective wrote.
The parents told detectives that an "eye hook" inside the playhouse was used to secure the girl's zip ties and keep her from kicking the playhouse apart. A mattress that the girl would sleep on inside the playhouse was on the balcony drying out because the girl had supposedly had soiled it.
"The 'playhouse' is ascetically pleasing from the outside but can only be described as a 'glorified cage when examined closer," the detective wrote.
Zip-ties -- considered heavy duty and 18 inches long and about a third of an inch wide -- were found inside the home, including an unopened bag of unused ties.
The girl's siblings confirmed for investigators that their sister was regularly zip tied and confined to the playhouse. All the children were taken into protective custody of the Florida Department of Children and Families at the onset the investigation, according to the sheriff's office.
Jessica De Leon, Herald law enforcement reporter, can be reached at 941-745-7049. You can follow her on Twitter@JDeLeon1012.