Lucy Devine
A woman from Connecticut has been charged with assault, kidnapping and unlawful imprisonment after a 32-year-old man was found locked in a tiny room last month.
Firefighters were called to a property in Waterbury, Connecticut, after the man started a fire in a bid to escape the home, which he claims he has been imprisoned in by his stepmother, Kimberly Sullivan, since he was 11-years-old.
The man, who was severely malnourished and emaciated when he was found, is believed to have received no medical or dental care for two decades.
Meanwhile, he says he was only allowed out of the tiny room to do chores for Sullivan, and was surviving on two cups of water and two sandwiches a day.
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On Thursday (March 13), Sullivan was charged with assault, kidnapping, unlawful imprisonment, reckless endangerment and cruelty to persons.
The man - who has not been publicly named - is currently receiving medical treatment in a special facility.
He says he spent his childhood eating food from rubbish bins at school, before he was removed from education in the fourth grade.
It is reported that he was not seen since, despite school principal Tom Pannone reportedly calling child protective services a number of times.
He told NBC News: "We knew it. We reported it. Not a damn thing was done.
"Everyone really was concerned with this child since he was five years old. You knew something was wrong. It was grossly wrong.
"You don’t disappear off the face of the earth at 10 years old."
After leaving the school, Pannone was told that the boy was enrolled at another school. He was also informed at one point that he was being home schooled.
Meanwhile, Police Chief Fernando Spagnolo said: "The suffering this victim endured for over 20 years is both heartbreaking and unimaginable."
According to an arrest warrant, a slide bolt lock was found on the door of the room from the outside.
Meanwhile, neighbors have been expressing their shock of hearing about what happened.
"We probably saw that guy three times outside,” one neighbour told NBC.
"I’m trembling right now just thinking about it because I can remember his face."
"Never seen a stepson, never,” said another.
Meanwhile, Sullivan's lawyer Ioannis Kaloidis told NBC that his client isn't a 'villain'.
"She’s not the villain she is being made out to be," he said.
"He was not locked in a room. She did not restrain him in any way. She provided food, she provided shelter. She is blown away by these allegations."
Sullivan is due back in court at the end of this month.