A Virginia mother and a man who lived with her face charges of child abuse, child cruelty and child abduction after police found two young boys chained up inside their Fairfax County apartment last month.
By Emma Uber
When Fairfax County police knocked on the door of the unit in the 6700 block of Tower Drive in the Alexandria area of Fairfax County on Aug. 15, officers could hear a chain rattling, court records state. Once inside, police say, officers saw two children shackled to furniture, which court documents characterized as a post next to a sleeping cot. The two boys — ages 7 and 9 — had marks on their ankles consistent with the shape and size of the chains, the records state.
Police arrested Wendi Del Cid Rodriguez, 46, who was released pending trial, and Franklin Viera Guevara, 29, who is being held in the Fairfax County Adult Detention Center with no bond. A phone number listed for the attorney who represents Guevara was not working Wednesday. Del Cid Rodriguez’s public defender, Amy Jordan, declined to comment on the case.
According to a criminal complaint, Del Cid Rodriguez and Viera Guevara told police they would chain the children by their ankles for short periods to “scare them” so they would not leave the apartment. They also told police that they would not leave the children alone in the apartment chained up, but a roommate told investigators that the boys were often left unsupervised and restrained while they were gone. According to the complaint, the roommate told police he would often wake up in the morning to see the two boys chained by the cot in the living room and the only time he did not see them restrained was when Del Cid Rodriguez or Viera Guevara was home. Reached by phone, the roommate declined to comment.
Del Cid Rodriguez, who is described in bail determination documents as a traffic controller, has lived in the Alexandria area for the past 10 years. She was charged with misdemeanor assault against her then-16-year-old daughter in 2019, court records show.
Del Cid Rodriguez was ordered not to contact the children while she awaits trial. Police did not respond to questions about the children’s whereabouts.
A preliminary hearing is scheduled for Oct. 2 in Fairfax County Juvenile and Domestic Relations District Court.
