Parents 'handcuffed children to beds and forced them to eat hot chilli peppers'

A couple are facing chargesof unlawful restraint and injury to a child after investigators accused them of handcuffing two children, aged 6 and 7, to their bunks during a weekend visit.

David Gonzalez and Anita Valdez allegedly beat the children with belts and forced them to eat hot chilli peppers as punishment in a cruel reign of terror. Authorities were alerted after Gonzalez’s ex, the mother of his 7-year-old daughter, called the copsafter the child came home from a weekend at her father’s house and told how she had been handcuffed to a bed for hours, according to the affidavit.

The little girl, whose wrists were visibly red, told her mother how Gonzalez and Valdez, her stepmother, had handcuffed both her hands to the bed and she wasforced to sleep while restrained. It was only the following morning that one of Valdez's young children let her out.

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When the shocked mother called her ex to confront him about her daughter’s injuries she said that initially denied restraining the 7-year-old. When he became angry and hung up, a report was made to law enforcement.

Officers from the San Antonio Police Department reportedly arrived at the home of Gonzalez and Valdez on Monday September 1 where Valdez denied they had handcuffed the girl. Valdez later admitted to restraining her own 6-year-old using the cuffs, claiming it was because the child had “mental health issues,” local CBS affiliate KENS .

Officers searched the house and recovered two sets of handcuffs attached to one child’s bed while the other had one set and a “ratchet strap” fastened to it. The couple were interviewed by cops and provided contradictory stories.

Gonzales said all the kids had been asleep when he arrived home and went to bed at 7pm, claiming he knew nothing about the handcuffing. However Valdez said her partner was still awake when she got home at 9pm.

Speaking to two juveniles who live with the couple, police heard how the stepmother handcuffed both young children numerous times. The child said she was cuffed most recently when she was caught eating in the bathroom. Investigators subsequently learned that Valdez only allowed the kids to eat one meal per day.

The children also claimed that Gonzalez would punish them by forcing them to pick and eat hot chilli peppers from a bush outside. They also said he would whip them with a belt and make them eat gummy candy that "tasted nasty" but made them "sleepy."

Gonzalez and Valdez were both released from Bexar County Jail after posting bond of $10,000 (£7,400). They are scheduled to appear in court again on December 1, records show.