Inset left to right: Amanda Sewell and Brandon Cox (Cheatham County Sheriff's Office). Background: The property where authorities say the neglect occurred (WKRN/YouTube).
A couple in Tennessee is accused of forcing a vulnerable teenager to live in a shed without running water, electricity, or a bathroom.
Amanda Sewell, 38, and Brandon Cox, 33, are each charged with caregiver neglect of a vulnerable adult, according to Cheatham County court records reviewed by Law&Crime. They were booked in the Cheatham County Jail and have since bonded out.
The defendants' case was opened on Wednesday.
The Cheatham County Sheriff's Office was called to a home after the victim called for help, Nashville ABC affiliate WKRN reported. The 18-year-old said he had been living in a shed behind the residence since February, when he turned 18.
His mother, Sewell, and her boyfriend, Cox, had apparently cut off the power and left him without a fan or air conditioning unit while temperatures outside reached 93 degrees. There were reportedly days, too, when the teenager did not have electricity.
The victim has autism, according to authorities.
When law enforcement officers spoke with Sewell, they said she told them her son moved into the shed after he could not get a job. She allegedly took away the electricity as a way to try to get him to find a job.
The teen was fed through a window and told to drink water from a hose, according to authorities. He reportedly was told not to go inside the main house when Cox was there, and doorknobs on the back doors of the residence were removed.
The victim had to use a bag as a toilet in the shed, and he had to be taken to a hospital at one point due to being dehydrated, the TV station reported.
Investigators searched the shed and said they found trash and very little bedding.
Deputies ultimately removed the victim from the residence and said they placed him in a safe place.
The defendants are next scheduled to appear in court on Nov. 25.