A Pennsylvania mother faces state prison after admitting she handcuffed her 11-year-old son to a home heating oil tank and a bed frame to control his behavior and eating habits while she was at work.
Chazzity Candelario, 33, was sentenced Wednesday to 16 months to five years in prison. The sentence was imposed by Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas Judge Charles Jones following Candelario’s no-contest plea in November to felony counts of unlawful restraint and false imprisonment of a minor, as well as misdemeanor child endangerment.
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During the sentencing hearing, Judge Jones expressed disbelief at the situation. “No way… that should not have happened,” Jones told the defendant, according to the Lebanon Daily News, adding that she must now do whatever possible to make it up to her children.
Prosecutors described a pattern of harsh restraint, noting that on one occasion, Candelario handcuffed her son for 17 hours after he ate “too many hot dogs.”
The abuse was uncovered on January 11, 2025, when investigators from the Lebanon County Regional Police Department arrived at Candelario’s residence on East Kercher Avenue. While Candelario was at work, her children led the officers to a bedroom where the 11-year-old was discovered handcuffed to the railing of a top bunk bed.
According to police investigations, the boy told detectives that he had previously been locked in the basement and chained to the oil tank. He was able to leave the cellar, but when free in the house, he accidentally handcuffed himself to the bed.
When officials approached Candelario, she originally insisted that they not talk with her children until she returned. Upon questioning, she admitted that she had struggled to control her son while she was employed. Her answer was to put him in a 3-by-8-foot utility room and tie him to the tank or a post for hours at a time.
“She’s been very sorry, very remorseful throughout the time I’ve represented her,” Candelario’s attorney stated in court. Candelario declined to make a statement herself.
After the hearing, Lebanon District Attorney Pier Hess Graf issued a statement condemning the mother’s behavior.
“As a mother, the defendant’s sole duty is to care for, love, and protect her children more than anyone else in this world,” Graf said. “This defendant instead chained her children up to suffer at her own hand and subject to her own evil will.”
Court records show that this is not Candelario’s first criminal offense involving her children. In 2017, she was charged with endangering the welfare of children and narcotics possession following an incident involving her then-partner.
