Broken Bow police made a shocking discovery recently when trying to arrest a man on an outstanding warrant – his parents were keeping him shackled to a wall and continuously giving him sleeping pills to keep him asleep.
The Broken Bow couple was charged in district court Thursday.
Jivel Lokiar, 53, and Mari Joab, 49, were each charged with kidnapping and abuse by caretaker, according to court records.
Broken Bow officer Quentin Lee said the following in a sworn statement:
On June 7, officers went to a home on West 9th Street to arrest a man on outstanding warrants.
Lee asked Lokiar where his son was because police had a warrant for his arrest.
Lokiar pointed at a bedroom door and officers opened it. They found the man with a padlock and chain around his ankle. The chain was then attached to a steel dog tether cable, which ran through a hole in a wall and was padlocked to a wooden board stud on the opposite side. Officers said someone needed to unlock the padlock immediately, but people in the home said Joab had the only key and he was at work.
Officers asked what if there was a fire; how could the man escape? The family members stayed quiet and didn’t answer, police said.
Broken Bow Fire Department arrived with bolt cutters and cut the chain off the man’s leg, however he was asleep and officers couldn’t wake him up.
Other family members told police that Lokiar and Joab give their son sleeping pills continuously to keep him asleep. The family said keeping the man asleep and chained up was the only way to keep him from leaving home.
The couple was arrested.
In other law enforcement activity, a 17-year-old was hospitalized Thursday after being beaten by his uncle, police said.
The teen borrowed tools from his uncle, but didn’t return them at the time at the time he uncle was expecting.
He said when he did return the tools his uncle punched and choked him. When he tried to drive away the man hit his vehicle several times with the borrowed tools, he said.
Police took pictures of the teen’s injuries at the hospital. A domestic assault and battery with intent to cause great harm by strangulation charge is being sought against the 46-year-old.
