Abuse in Kuna
BOISE -- A Kuna couple accused of holding two teenagers captive in the family's home with little food or water will face a district court judge on July 17th.
Ada County Sheriff's Office detectives say Brian K. Bracy will face one charge of felony injury to a child, while his wife Melissa Louise Bracy will face one charge of aiding and abetting felony injury to a child.
The charges stem from a June 16th investigation where deputies found the Bracy's teenage children held in "extreme isolation," where they were cruelly punished, according to an indictment by the Ada County Prosecutor's office.
Detectives say a citizen's tip led them to couple's home on the 500 block of North Franklin Avenue in Kuna where they found the children.
"This was a case of really severe mental and emotion abuse," said Detective Ryan Pacheco, of the Ada County Sheriff's Department.
The victims include a 13-year-old girl who the couple told authorities was "home schooled," along with a 15-year-old boy who attended a local high school.
Sheriff's deputies say the couple would lock the children in their rooms for hours at a time, and give them meals of rice and water for punishment.
Ada County Sheriff's Office spokesperson Andrea Dearden told KTVB the couple would also video-tape the teens and punish them if they were found to have eaten any other food than what they were given.
Dearden says the couple is furthermore accused of isolating the children in their rooms when at home, and denying them of books, movies, and other contacts with the outside world.
"They kept the children's windows boarded up or blacked-out," Dearden said.
Dearden said the children were so fearful of punishment that detectives had to coax them out of their rooms for nearly an hour before they came out.
"Our investigation has shown that the abuse really started when the children moved in with their biological father about four years ago, started getting more so about two years ago, and really started amping up probably within the last year," said Detective Pacheco.
Neighbors told KTVB they never saw much of the Bracy family, and when they did it struck them as odd.
"We seen the kids come out and they're pulling weeds in the rain. We thought it was odd so we continued to kind of watch," said neighbor Keri Daw.
Neighbors were so worried, they said they called Child Protective Services and the police.
Detectives say after the children were freed, law enforcement officers deemed they were in imminent danger, and placed both in custody of the State of Idaho.
After concluding their investigation this week, detectives arrested Brian K. Bracy and Melissa Louise Bracy on Wednesday.
The couple is being held in the Ada County Jail on $150,000 bonds each.
They're scheduled to enter pleas in their case in front of 4th district Judge Richard Greenwood on Tuesday, July 17th.
