Couple accused of caging autistic son get 11 months

BAD AXE – A couple accused of keeping their 19-year-old adopted son in a cage at their home in rural Michigan have been sentenced to 11 months behind bars.

WNEM-TV reports Karen and Timothy Tolin also were ordered Tuesday to serve two years of probation.

They earlier pleaded no contest to unlawful imprisonment in a Huron County court. In exchange, prosecutors dropped a charge of vulnerable adult abuse against each of them. A no contest plea isn’t an admission of guilt but is treated as such for sentencing.

A deputy answering an Oct. 20 civil dispute call found the 19-year-old in a bedroom at the home in Paris Township, about 90 miles north of Detroit. Authorities also removed three adults and two children from the home, which wasn’t a licensed care facility.