California authorities arrested three people last week after a teenage boy with autism was found naked with his hands bound at a grocery store.
The Ceres Police Department said it received the first call about the boy Wednesday afternoon in which a nude male was reported running along the road. Officers found the boy — an autistic 15-year-old — at Cost Less grocery store with his hands bound.
The boy, who was not identified, had “multiple visible injuries” and indications that his ankles had also been bound, Ceres police said. He was taken to a hospital for treatment.
Police said that while they were investigating, the boy’s mother came looking for him. The woman was identified as Leandra Renteria, 36, and officers learned she had a 12-year-old daughter with autism as well.
“Officers conducted a welfare check and found the 12-year-old safe in the home, however the home was in poor condition,” police said.
Ceres Lt. Jeff Godfrey told NBC News affiliate KCRA that there were “feces and urine throughout the house.” He described the home as having “health hazards that nobody should be living in.”
Rebecca Renard, a Cost Less employee, told the news station that the boy showed up dragging a rope from his left ankle and had “bruises all over his body.”
“I could hear people gasp, like, you know, like a sound of shock, and I turned, and when I did, the young gentleman was coming across the front end with no clothes on,” Renard said.
Store employees covered him with a coat until police arrived, and Renard said they tried to tell the boy that “everything is going to be OK.”
Renteria was arrested on suspicion of child abuse and neglect. Lenore Wilson and Gary Wilson were also arrested in the case, identified by KCRA as the boy’s grandmother and his grandmother’s husband.
“The children were removed from the home and placed under the care of Child Protective Services,” police said.
Court records for the three suspects were not immediately available.
A phone number for Renteria was not listed in public records. Calls to the Wilsons were not immediately returned on Sunday.
