A West Jordan couple pleaded no contest Wednesday to prosecutors' charges that they disciplined their adopted 12-year-old son by handcuffing and chaining him to a bookshelf in the basement of their home.
The plea came the morning Gary Sanks, 45, and his 40-year-old wife, Robyn, were scheduled to stand trial on the class A misdemeanor child abuse charges.
By pleading no contest, defense attorney Ken Brown said, his clients have "accepted responsibility for creating the situation" and "acknowledged what they did was wrong." The Sankses claim, however, that they meant the boy no harm.
According to court documents, the boy told police he was chained up whenever he was in the Sanks home from Dec. 20, 1999, to Feb. 3, 2000. He was freed every two hours to use the bathroom. Documents also state Robyn Sanks admitted to police that she and her husband chained their son "for prolonged periods of time as discipline."
The couple will be sentenced Jan. 22, when they will each face up to a year in jail and a $2,500 fine.