Family says photo of duct-taped children "for sale" was a joke
A disturbing photo that surfaced on social media on Friday is now being investigated by the Memphis Police Department.
The photo showed two young children with duct tape covering their mouths and wrapped around their hands. The photo’s caption reads, “Kids for sale, 45% off because they bad.” The older child appears to have tears in her eyes.
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Facebook user “Jaton Justsilly Jaibabi” who posted the photo, has since changed her account name, but not before Memphis police were alerted.
She has since received an onslaught of social messages with criticism.
Despite the outrage over the photo, a cousin of the woman who posted it, Derion King, says that it was a joke that was a mistake: “Basically a joke at the moment that people just went overboard about. People make mistakes and that’s what this situation is, a lesson learned. They are safe, unharmed, and loved. That’s all it is to it.”
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According to WRCB, the Tennessee Department of Children’s Services said it is researching the situation before launching an investigation.
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This isn’t the first time adults have gotten in trouble for sharing photos of their children on social media or for duct taping children. A young mother and her boyfriend were jailed for duct-taping a 2-year-old child to a wall, an Arizona couple arrested for taping their two young children up and posting to Facebook, and a Texas daycare sued for taping children to cots during nap time.