A 53-year-old woman has been charged with abusing her husband by banishing him to a cellar for three years.
Muriel E. Smith, of La Crosse, was released on a $25,000 signature bond after appearing in La Crosse County Circuit Court on Monday afternoon. She was ordered not to have any contact with her family, including her husband, Leroy Smith, 63.Authorities learned of the situation last week after a water meter reader reported seeing Leroy Smith sleeping slumped over in a beat-up lawn chair in the 8-by-6-foot cellar five or six times over the past few years.
Muriel Smith was charged with one felony count of abuse of a vulnerable adult and one count of unlawful use of a telephone, a mis-de-meanor. The second charge stems from a phone call Muriel Smith made to her nephew's wife Sunday in which she allegedly threatened to hurt the meter reader.
Muriel Smith, a slight, gray-haired woman, appeared in court clad in a blue jail uniform and ankle chains.
A guardian was appointed to care for Leroy Smith, who has worked as a janitor at G. Heileman Brewing Co. for 17 years.
Police said Leroy Smith was banished to the cellar, which can be reached only by an outside stairway, three years ago after he urinated in his pants because of a leg infection that made it difficult for him to walk to the bathroom.
When he wanted food, he rang the bell on the back porch and clapped twice. Muriel Smith would then leave food for him, according to court records.
Colleagues at Heileman had noticed bruises and scratches on Leroy Smith for more than a decade.
"As far as physical marks, his co-workers said they became concerned because some looked as if she tried to strangle him," said La Crosse County Assistant District Attorney Robyn Dvorak.
Union stewards at the brewery once took him to the county Human Services Department after they saw him rummaging through garbage cans for something to eat and scrounging cigarette butts from the floor and ashtrays.
The couple's adult daughter, Patricia Smith, told police that she saw her mother routinely beat her father with a broom and that the bruises on his legs were so bad that he could not wear shorts.