Chandler couple Vu Tran and Siobhan Grogan told police they often kept their 8-year-old son -- who has mental and physical disabilities -- locked in a bathroom. According to Tran, it's because they "have a life too."
Tran and Groghan only ended up talking to police on Tuesday because while they were out trying to "have a life," the maintenance manager from their apartment complex was investigating a leak, and found the boy locked in the bathroom, naked and standing in two inches of water, while the toilet was overflowing.
According to court documents obtained by New Times, someone called the maintenance manager at the complex -- near Alma School Road and Knox Road -- because water was leaking into their apartment from the apartment above Tuesday evening.
After knocking, no one answered the door, so he went inside. Once inside, the man heard running water and what he thought was a small child inside a locked bathroom.
Once he removed the door knob, the maintenance manager found the 8-year-old boy naked, standing in two inches of water, while the toilet -- which had the boy's clothes in it -- was overflowing.
Almost three hours later, Tran and Grogan showed up to the Chandler police station looking for their boy.
Tran said his son had a birth defect, and has the mental capacity of an 18-month-old child. He said his son cannot speak, and can't see well, either.
Tran went on to explain that he and his wife "have a life too," so he needed to leave his son locked in the bathroom to do that, according to the documents.
He said that they first "tested" the boy by "pretending" to leave him along to see how he would react, before they started doing it "for real," the documents state.
Tran said he usually leaves the boy in there for one to three hours at a time, and said he didn't think his son could die or be seriously injured by himself and locked in the bathroom, according to the documents.
Tran, Grogan, and their daughter each told police the excuses for locking the boy in the bathroom by himself for hours on end.
"Vu stated they 'have a life too' and needed to leave [the boy] alone so they could do things as a family," according to a probable-cause statement.
Later in that statement, "...Siobhan advised they left [the boy] at home alone because they 'like to feel like a normal family once in a while."
Their daughter, who was taken by Child Protective Services, told police that her parents locked up her brother because he "pooped too much," court documents state.
Both Tran and Grogan claimed they only left the boy home alone for about an hour on Tuesday, which police contend is not the case, since they were at their place for at least three hours waiting for them.
Tran and Grogan each face child-abuse charges. Tran's bond was set at $8,000, and Grogan's was set at $2,300.
