Report: Former Residents Facing Cruelty Charges for Locking Kids in Dog Crate

NEWINGTON, CT — Newingt0n police have two people in custody on charges that they locked two of their children in a dog cage to discipline them, according to a news release.

Michael Thalmann, 44, and his wife, Jennifer Thalmann, 48, were charged with two counts of cruelty to persons and two counts of risk of injury to a minor, Newington police said.

The are former residents of Newington now living in Pennsylvania police said. They were in the lockup on $250,000 bonds Sunday and were to appear in court on Monday, police said.

They surrendered Sunday, police said.

The arrest warrants allege that between 2013 and 2016, the Thalmanns failed to provide two adoptive children with adequate food, struck them with paddles and secured them in locked dog cages as forms of discipline while residing on Kirkham Street in Newington.

Photo Credit: Newington PD