PHOENIX – A Phoenix man has been sentenced to 15 years in prison for keeping his five-year-old twin boys locked in filthy makeshift cages.
Authorities say 73-year-old Luis Rodriguez also was sentenced to lifetime probation.
The boys' mother - 45-year-old Etelvina Rodriguez - had previously pleaded guilty to two counts of attempted child abuse.
She was sentenced in February 2005 to six years in prison and lifetime probation.
Phoenix police found the boys in August 2003 after their 20-year-old brother told an off-duty officer at a grocery store about the squalid living conditions.
When police arrived at the home, they found the children inside two cribs that had been sealed with plastic crates.
Police say the boys could not speak and were not yet toilet-trained.
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Etelvina Rodriguez told police her husband wanted the boys in cages because he suffers from health problems and could not keep up with the active children.
