http://www.startribune.com/stories/462/5231694.html
A St. Paul mother and her live-in boyfriend are accused of locking the woman's 11-year-old daughter in a chain-link dog kennel in a warehouse basement, leaving her cold and, one night, naked.
Deborah L. Cameron and Eric Bare appeared in Ramsey County District Court on Wednesday, each charged with two counts of unreasonable restraint of a child, a gross misdemeanor. ...
...Bare and Cameron were released from jail Wednesday night after Bare posted $5,000 bail and Cameron posted $2,000 bail. Conditions for their release included having no contact with the girl and maintaining regular contact with pretrial release officials. County Attorney Susan Gaertner said she has never seen a case like this in her 20 years as a prosecutor. She said the couple's actions are deserving of more serious charges, but prosecutors could not find a state felony law that fit the conduct.
http://www.twincities.com/mld/twincities/news/local/10860073.htm
...The girl is in protective custody. Child Protection Services investigators had two previous contacts with the girl. Investigators said they had no evidence to corroborate the girl's allegations until now.
Calling the case abhorrent, Ramsey County Attorney Susan Gaertner said her staff scoured the penal code before filing charges.
"Twenty years as a prosecutor and I have not seen anything like this," Gaertner said. "There are a number of experienced prosecutors in my office, myself included, who are shocked and saddened by these allegations. … We looked very hard at any potential felony that could be charged. We looked really carefully at the sexual assault statute to see if anything applied. Nothing did."
She said her office did not know about the girl's previous attempts to get help.
"The allegations were never brought to our office," Gaertner said. "I don't believe the police were contacted." ...
...One neighbor, who refused to identify herself, said she heard the adults berate the girl, calling her a freak. The neighbor said the girl dressed in dark, Gothic clothing.