Couple accused of locking child in shed during 100-degree heat

DEMING — A married couple is being held in jail without bond as they await trial for locking their child in a shed for more than a day in triple-digit heat, endangering her life.

Luna County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a call of a female child in possible physical distress on June 20, arriving at a home in a remote stretch of open land east of Deming. According to an arrest affidavit, the deputy followed the sound of a child’s voice calling from a metal-topped, wooden shed on the property. The deputy reported that the child stated “she could not get out of the shed, that she was hungry, was thirsty, and did not have any water.”

The affidavit goes on to describe the deputy’s discovery of a 6-year-old girl who had been locked in without running water since the previous afternoon. The storage shed was behind a padlocked gate, and deputies reportedly removed siding from the exterior wall in order to unlock the shed and free the child.

Bruce Anglin, 56, was arrested along with wife Samantha Anglin, 33, when they returned to the property from a trip into town with their other child, a 2-year-old. The parents allegedly admitted to locking the child in the shed as punishment. According to the sheriff’s office, the shed had no plumbing or electricity other than a pressure tank for the home’s water system. The child had been left with a water bottle and bucket to use as a toilet, according to charging documents.

Sixth Judicial District Attorney Norman Wheeler’s office described the conditions of the shed as “filthy,” and stated in a news release that “she had visible bruises, a swelling eye and told the medics that she had eaten a tortilla and diced onion the previous day.”

She had reportedly been confined in the shed for approximately 26 hours, during which local temperatures exceeded 100 degrees. After being transported to Mimbres Memorial Hospital for evaluation, prosecutors stated in a court motion that the child was diagnosed with pneumonia.

Prosecutors stated at a detention hearing before state District Judge Jennifer DeLaney that Bruce Anglin imprisoned the child “as a form of punishment, and his wife took no meaningful action to intervene.”

Bruce Anglin has been charged with several felonies over the incident, including two counts of child abuse not resulting in death or great bodily harm: One count for allegedly endangering her life and health by locking her in the shed, and another for alleged battery. He is also charged with two counts of conspiracy to commit abuse of a child, false imprisonment and conspiracy to commit false imprisonment. Bruce Anglin entered a not guilty plea at his detention hearing, according to the district attorney’s office.

Prosecutors said Samantha Anglin assisted her child’s stepfather in executing the punishment and did not take effective steps to free her daughter. She has been charged with one count of felony child abuse, and court records indicate she agreed to the pretrial detention.

Both children have been taken into protective custody, Wheeler stated, as the Anglins remain in custody at the Luna County Detention Center.