Ohio Woman Sentenced To 3 Years In Prison For Padlocking 7-Year-Old Girl In Dog Cage

An Ohio woman who locked up a 7-year-old girl in a cage has been sentenced to the maximum prison term of three years behind bars.

On January 11, Lillian Cottrell, 29, pleaded guilty to a third-degree felony charge of child endangerment, admitting that over seven months in 2019 she would torture and punish the little girl, to whom she is reportedly related, by locking her up in the dog cage located in the basement of the family’s Canton house, according to the Associated Press.

The abuse victim weighed just 28 pounds when Child Protective Services rescued her from the home, prosecutors said.

Stark County Common Pleas Court Judge Frank Forchione called the abuse “disgusting” and told Cottrell — who rolled her eyes and grinned while attending the sentencing via video feed from jail — that he would have ordered her to spend 10 years in prison for the “heinous” crime if he had been able to under current law, The Repository reported.

“Someone’s got to speak up for that child and that person is me,” the judge told Cottrell.

“You think putting a 7-year-old in a cage is good discipline?” Forchione asked at one point. “You’re going to find out very shortly it’s not much fun because I’m going to give you the same. I’m going to lock you up in a cage and we’ll see how you like it.”

“A 7-year-old child is just a crown jewel of life,” he continued. “They’re not to be treated like some kind of animal — this is sickening.”

Cottrell’s 30-year-old boyfriend, Derek Mayle, faces the same child endangerment charge. His trial is set to start at the end of March.

The little girl is now “doing well” and “thriving” in the care of a family friend who plans to adopt her, Stark County Assistant Prosecutor Daniel Petricini noted after the hearing.