Man is accused of duct taping boy

Left home alone, the 7-year-old breaks free and goes to a neighbor's home for help.

By Molly Moorhead, Times Staff Writer
Published March 4, 2008

ADVERTISEMENT Charles Osteen Jr. was charged with child neglect.

PORT RICHEY - Charles Osteen Jr. had errands to run.

Just before 2 p.m. on Saturday, said a Sheriff's Office report, the 31-year-old man put his baby in the car and left his house on Dresden Lane. But another child remained at home, alone and bound to a bed, the report says.

The 7-year-old boy told deputies that Osteen used duct tape to bind him to a bed. He broke free and went to a neighbor's house, the report said.

As the neighbor walked the boy home, Osteen pulled up in his car. That's when the neighbor noticed the infant in the back in a car seat and thought Osteen appeared intoxicated with "glassy eyes," the report said.

When the neighbor went inside to call 911, Osteen left with the children.

Deputies interviewed him and the boy a day later. The boy first told them that Osteen taped him down as part of a game, but then said Osteen told him to say that. The boy said his mother was at work at the time of the incident.

Osteen, for his part, said he bound the boy as punishment, but he kept breaking free. He was planning to leave to go pay bills, he told deputies, and exercised "poor judgment."

He was arrested Sunday on a charge of child neglect and released from jail after posting $5,000 bail.

[Last modified March 3, 2008, 21:41:24]