Police have charged Christi Howell and her boyfriend with harming a child after they allegedly tied up her son's genitals and waterboarded him.
A Texas couple is behind bars after police say they punished a teenage boy by tying up his genitals and torturing him.
Kaufman County authorities charged Christi Howell and her boyfriend, Casey Shackleford, with harming a child after they allegedly tied up Howell's son's genitals and waterboarded him as punishment for allegedly touching the family dog in an inappropriate manner.
"The victim stated that he wanted to be honest and admit what he had done and that was why he told Casey," according to a police affidavit obtained by KHOU.
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The 13-year-old boy told authorities that Shackleford then grabbed him by the hair, pinned him down and instructed Howell to pour water on the boy's mouth while a towel was over his face.
"The victim said that he was able to breathe slightly if he moved his head to the side and that kept him from feeling like he was drowning," according to the affidavit.
Police say Shackleford then told Howell to get a "pig rope," which they allegedly tied around the boy's genitals and left them tied for "five to 10 minutes" while his mother "pulled on the rope as if she was trying to pull him around and off the couch."
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The boy also revealed to investigators that he'd been punished in the past for doing pushups improperly by his mother, who he said would whip him with a stick when he showed poor form.
Howell was arrested Feb. 8 and has since been charged with injury to a child, a felony. She remained held on Monday on a $250,000 bond.
Warrants for injury to a child and a probation revocation were issued for Shackleford, who turned himself in Wednesday. He was being held on a $150,000 bond for the injury charge.
Neither suspect has yet appeared in court, according to online documents.
The boy has been placed in foster care.
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