Bradenton mother’s son afraid to go to school after teacher, aide tie him up: ‘I considered them family’

BRADENTON, Fla. - A teacher and teacher's aide are no longer interacting with students after they were accused of tying up a 7-year-old boy. It happened at G.D. Rogers Garden-Bullock Elementary School in Bradenton. 

The boy's mother is now speaking out about what happened.

The boy's mother, Takeila Jones, said she's hurt, but most of all, angry. She said these two staff members were people she thought she knew well and people she trusted.

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Now, she said her son is scared and afraid to go back to school.

Jones' son, 7-year-old Jhalil Richardson, is on the autism spectrum and non-verbal. Sunday, Jones said she got a call from Child Protective Services and then her son's principal.

"Telling me that my son was tied to a chair by his teachers," Jones said.

According to the Bradenton Police Department, the boy's Exceptional Student Education (ESE) teacher, 31-year-old Carina Chindamo, and her aide, 39-year-old Taylor Internicola, can be seen on surveillance video tying the wrists of the boy with a nylon walking rope. The rope was then wrapped around the leg of a chair.

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"I felt like emotionally just bashed at this point, because they were people that I actually really and genuinely thought had my son's best interests at heart," Jones said.

Police said "the child sat on the ground behind the chair, restrained, for approximately one hour," adding that "At various times in the video, Chindamo and Internicola were observed sitting on the chair, appearing to use their weight to keep the child from getting free."

"I considered them family. They were always having so-called his best interests at heart and at this point, it just shows me like, and you were just lying," Jones said.

It's not clear if either Chindamo or Internicola will be fired.

"The details of this incident, as described in the Bradenton Police Department Press Release, are disturbing and reprehensible," a spokesperson for Manatee County Schools said in a statement sent to FOX 13 Wednesday. "All of our protocols have been followed, including the employees’ removal from the classroom immediately after the incident was reported and reassignment to other District locations where students are not present."

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Meanwhile, Jones said her son is still emotionally scarred by what happened.

"He doesn't want to sleep in his bed by himself. He wants to sleep with me or his dad," Jones said. "When we would get up in the morning and go to school he used to be so cheerful, but now it's like he doesn't want to get there."

As of Wednesday night, Chindamo has since bonded out of jail. Bradenton police said they've made multiple attempts to get in touch with Internicola, but have been unsuccessful. 

Both women are being charged with one count of false imprisonment.