David Phillips (Tuscaloosa County Sheriff's Office).
A young Alabama boy told cops his father left him handcuffed to a bed repeatedly as punishment before heading to work, explaining that "daddy had put him in a timeout," according to police.
David Phillips, 31, of Vance, had "chains hanging from the bedframe and pills spilled on the floor under the bed" when a Tuscaloosa County school system coordinator and sheriff's deputies went to his house to ask why he had not enrolled his children in school, according to court documents obtained by local NBC affiliate WVTM.
Phillips allegedly abused and handcuffed two of his children between July 10 and Aug. 17 at a home in Vance. An older child told law enforcement that her younger brother had been shackled to a bedframe while their father went to work. Phillips then allegedly whipped the older child after she reported the abuse.
The school system coordinator and deputies went to the residence on Aug. 17 after learning Phillips had not enrolled the children. What they allegedly found prompted a child abuse and neglect investigation.
An investigator described seeing the "chains hanging" and pills spilled on the floor. Deputies also found a handcuff attached to the younger child's ankle, according to court documents.
Asked about it, the boy allegedly said his father had restrained him before leaving for work.
"Daddy had put him in a timeout before he left for work and he was stuck to the bed," the child said, according to the court documents.
Phillips' daughter told investigators her father used the handcuffs to punish her brother by attaching him to the bed multiple times over several months, the court documents say.
The older child said she was isolated from friends and family and kept out of school and away from medical treatment.
A report an investigator reviewed listed torture among several diagnoses tied to physical and psychological abuse and neglect, the court documents state.
The Alabama Department of Human Resources took custody of both children a day after the Aug. 17 visit, WVTM reports.
Phillips faces charges of torture, willful abuse of a child under 18 and aggravated abuse of a child under 6. He is being held without bond.