BRADENTON, Fla. — A Bradenton mother is demanding answers after police said her child's teacher tied the non-verbal 7-year-old to a chair for about an hour.
The incident happened Friday, Feb. 2, at G.D Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary School.
The teacher, 31-year-old Carina Chindamo has been charged with false imprisonment and is currently in the Sarasota County Jail pending a transfer to Manatee County. Authorities also have a warrant out for her aide, 39-year-old Taylor Internicola.
The child's mom, Takeila Jones, said she is trying to stay calm so she doesn't upset her kids further than they already are. However, she said she is deeply disturbed by what she was told happened in the surveillance video.
"Sunday morning, I got a phone call from CPS telling me that there was an incident that happened at my kids' school," she said.
Jones met with school officials on Monday to discuss what happened to her son
"They took a rope they used to walk the kids around school. They said that they tied him to a chair and had him sitting crisscross applesauce under the chair where they would sit on the chair and make sure he didn't go anywhere," Jones explained.
The nylon rope is typically used to teach students to walk in line. According to police, the rope was wrapped around the leg of a chair, restraining the child. He sat on the ground behind the chair for approximately one hour.
"At various times in the video, Chindamo and Internicola were observed sitting on the chair, appearing to use their weight to keep the child from getting free," the police department wrote.
Jones's son is non-verbal and living with autism. After the Friday incident was disclosed to his mother, his sister opened up to her that she was scared to report what was happening to her brother because she didn't want to get into trouble.
"They have done it numerous of times which we have found out later on yesterday, that they have done it numerous of times and they felt it was OK to do it," Jones said.
"It makes a lot of people here angry, and we're all just very upset by this," said Meredith Censullo, a spokesperson for the Bradenton Police Department.
Police say the false imprisonment charge only accounts for that one-hour duration in which the child was seen tied to the chair and held hostage. However, there's still a possibility that more charges could be filed against Chindamo and Internicola.
Detectives are still reviewing evidence to see what other crimes may have been committed and if there were other victims. That process would include accessing and reviewing more video surveillance footage.
"Based on what the detectives need to see, whether it's multiple days, multiple cameras, that's in the early stages right now," Censullo said.
According to the mom, an IT staff who was looking through the surveillance video for something unrelated stumbled upon the scene in the video and called it to the attention of the principal.
"I trusted these women with my son, like I wholeheartedly trusted them with my son, with all of my kids, all my kids. My son is not a violent child, my son doesn't hurt anyone unless you do something to him first," Jones said.
In a statement, the Manatee County School District called the details of the incident "disturbing and reprehensible." Read the full statement below:
"The highest priority of the School District of Manatee County is student safety. While we do not typically comment on matters which are currently being investigated by law enforcement or the State Attorney’s Office, the Bradenton Police Department has announced warrants for the arrest of an exceptional student education teacher and an aide for their conduct involving one of our students at Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary. The details of this incident, as described in the Bradenton Police Department Press Release, are disturbing and reprehensible.
"The District has been fully cooperating with law enforcement throughout this active investigation. All of our protocols have been followed, including the employees’ removal from the classroom immediately after the incident was reported and reassignment to other District locations where students are not present."
Anyone with information about this case is asked to contact Detective Dalia Santana at dalia.santana@bradentonpd.com or the Bradenton Police Department at 941-932-9300.
Tips can be submitted anonymously to Crime Stoppers at manateecrimestoppers.com or 866-634-8477 (TIPS).