Kearns couple arrested, accused of locking young teen in ‘makeshift cell’ at home

KEARNS, Utah — A Kearns couple have been arrested and accused of locking children in their house in “makeshift cells” for days and possibly weeks at a time.

Melissa Ann Gray, 41, and Travis Stacey Peterson, 49, were each booked into the Salt Lake County Jail on Tuesday for investigation of aggravated child abuse. Gray was also arrested on suspicion of an additional count of child abuse with injury.

The investigation began on Aug. 19 when Unified police were called to check on a possible child abuse situation at a home near 4600 West and 4900 South involving a 13-year-old boy.

An undisclosed witness claimed the boy was being “locked in a makeshift cell,” according to a police booking affidavit.

“When officers arrived on scene, they observed (the boy) in the hallway of the home, in an alcove looking like a closet under the stairs with gates affixed to the walls and locked with a padlock from the outside so (the boy) was unable to get out,” the affidavit states. “(The boy) had been locked in the makeshift cell for approximately 24 hours around the clock.”

Gray, the boy’s stepmother, had also made the boy drop his pants so she could spank him for “screaming in the home,” the affidavit alleges. “Prior to being spanked, (the boy) reported being hungry, lonely and having to sleep curled up in the makeshift cells.”

Officers learned that the boy had also been “locked into a makeshift cell made out his loft bed … for months and only let out when he would have to go to the bathroom,” the arrest report says.

Read the full story on KSL.com.

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