A Pennsylvania mother is facing prison time after admitting to multiple charges related to locking her 11-year-old son to a fuel tank for hours. The incident occurred while she was at work, unable to manage his eating habits and behavior.

Chazzity Candelario, residing in North Lebanon Township, was charged with felony counts of unlawful restraint and false imprisonment of a minor, alongside a misdemeanor for endangering the welfare of a child. In November, she entered a no-contest plea to these charges. As reported by local NBC affiliate WGAL, she received a sentence on Wednesday, mandating her to serve between 16 months and five years in a state prison.

During court proceedings, prosecutors revealed that Candelario, who was 33 years old at the time of her arrest, once restrained her son for 17 hours over consuming too many hot dogs, according to WGAL.

Judge Charles Jones of the Lebanon County Court of Common Pleas expressed his disapproval at Candelario’s sentencing, stating, “No way … should that have happened,” as reported by the Lebanon Daily News.

Judge Jones further emphasized, “You’ve got to do whatever you can to make it up to your children for having that happen.”

Police officers were dispatched to Candelario’s home at 680 East Kercher Avenue on Jan. 11, 2025, for an 11-year-old boy that was “restrained with handcuffs,” the Lebanon County Regional Police reported online. “An investigation revealed the juvenile’s mother … had restrained the juvenile to an oil tank in the basement using handcuffs,” police said.

Officers arrived on the scene and spoke with her children while Candelario was away at work. The kids directed an officer to a bedroom, where her son was handcuffed to the railing of a top bunk bed.

The boy told cops he was initially locked up in the basement but managed to escape. While free, prosecutors said he accidentally handcuffed himself to the bed.

Authorities contacted Candelario, who allegedly ordered them to not speak with her children until after she got back to the residence. Once there, she told police that she had trouble controlling her son while he was home and she was working, so Candelario started locking him up in a 3 feet by 8 feet utility room and handcuffing him to the oil tank. The boy told investigators that he would typically be restrained for up hours at a time while his mom was away at work — sometimes to a “post,” according to police.

Candelario was also arrested in 2017 for endangering the welfare of children, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia in connection with an incident involving her kids, according to the Lebanon Daily News.

For that arrest, Candelario was charged alongside her partner, John Zayas, who can be seen on her Facebook page posing in photos with her and her kids. He was also charged with endangering the welfare of children, possession of marijuana and possession of drug paraphernalia.

Candelario posts photos and statuses regularly on Facebook with her kids featured or mentioned.

A collection of Halloween pics from 2021 shows her children dressed up as kids from The Addams Family, with a photo showing one of her sons donning fake handcuffs.

“She’s been very sorry, very remorseful throughout the time I’ve represented her,” Candelario’s lawyer said in court at her sentencing. Candelario declined to speak.

“As a mother, the defendant’s sole duty is to care for, love, and protect her children more than anyone else in this world,” Lebanon District Attorney Pier Hess Graf told the Daily News after Candelario was sentenced. “This defendant instead chained her children up to suffer at her own hand and subject to her own evil will.”