Inset: Wendi Del Cid Rodriguez (Fairfax County Police Department). Background: The apartment building where Del Cid Rodriguez chained up her sons (WRC).
A 47-year-old mother in Virginia will be going to prison for regularly chaining up her two young sons to furniture while she and her boyfriend were at work, telling police she wanted to “scare” the kids into not leaving the apartment unsupervised.
Wendi Del Cid Rodriguez on Tuesday formally pleaded guilty to one count of abduction and one count of assault and battery.
Del Cid Rodriguez reached a deal with Fairfax County prosecutors in which she agreed to plead to the aforementioned charges in exchange for charges of child cruelty being dismissed, Arlington ABC affiliate WJLA reported.
Del Cid Rodriguez”s boyfriend at the time, Franklin Viera Guevara, had been facing the same charges as the victims’ mother. However, he was arrested by U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) in February 2024, for being in the country unlawfully. Officials earlier this year confirmed that he was no longer in the custody of Fairfax County after having been deported, Washington, D.C., NBC affiliate WRC reported.
According to court documents obtained by Washington, D.C., CBS affiliate WUSA, officers with the Fairfax Police Department at about 5:50 p.m. on Aug. 15, 2023, responded to a report of child neglect taking place at an apartment complex in the 6700 block of Tower Drive, which is about 10 miles south of the nation’s capital.
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Upon arriving at the scene, officers reportedly said they could hear the sound of chains rattling. Inside the home, they found two children, ages 7 and 9, unsupervised and chained to a post in the living room.
“The two patrol officers who were knocking on that door, when they were communicating or attempting to communicate with the occupants, they literally heard chains rattling in the background,” Chief Kevin Davis told WJLA.
One of the children had reportedly borrowed a cellphone belonging to a roommate that lived in the apartment and sent a photograph of the handcuffs and chains to his older sister, who then contacted authorities.
In speaking with Del Cid Rodriguez and Guevara, both reportedly confirmed to police that they would regularly chain the boys up in an effort to “‘scare them’ so they wouldn’t leave the apartment.” Authorities said both of the victims had marks on their wrists and ankles “consistent with being bound.”
The couple’s roommate, who was not identified by authorities, also confirmed that the victims were bound on a regular basis.
He told police he “would wake up in the morning and observe [the victims] chained to the leg of the table next to where they slept,” the affidavit in support of a search warrant stated.
“[The roommate] stated that [Del Cid Rodriguez and Guevara] were not in the apartment when the children were chained in the morning hours,” the document continued. “[The victims] remained chained until either [Del Cid Rodriguez or Guevara] would arrive home between 3pm and 6 pm. [The roommate] would only observe [the victims] unchained when either [Del Cid Rodriguez or Guevara] were in the apartment.”
While chained, the boys were reportedly only able to take about six or seven steps. Following the incident, both children were placed in the custody of their father.
Following Del Cid Rodriguez’s guilty plea, the presiding judge revoked her bond and remanded her to jail to await her sentencing hearing in November, citing concerns that she had been having supervised visits with the victims while on pretrial release, per WRC.
