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Teenager Found Handcuffed In Basement Gets Foster Care Protection

The Kansas City North prosecutor who will have to decide if there are criminal charges in the keeping of a teenage boy handcuffed in a basement, does not expect to see the case for several days.

A judge Thursday placed the boy in temporary care of a foster family.

Kansas City Police found what they described as a thin 17-year-old Monday and say he was cuffed to an upright pole in his family’s home near Russell  Road and North Wheeling.

The boy purportedly said he had been kept there since September.

Police said the father denied wrongdoing.

Early police accounts said the boy was taken out of school in the fall of 2012 and had initially been cuffed to a bed until he dismantled it and escaped briefly.

The Missouri Childrens’ Division took a call from a worried neighbor Monday. Police found the youth crouched on a concrete floor at base of the pole where he was attached.

The report said his face was sunken and he had a look of “desperation.”

Jim Roberts speaks for the Clay County Prosecutor and says a specialist in dealing with young people will  interview the victim before police review results and the prosecutor weighs filing charges.

According to Roberts,“We’re waiting for police to complete their investigation. We’re expecting something to come to us probably the first or middle of next week. We don’t anticipate anything before Monday."

There was a protective custody hearing held Thursday and another is set for next month. Until then, the boy is to stay in foster care.

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