Another Arrest In Case Of Boy Locked In Bathroom

Hernando County deputies returned today to the Spring Hill home where a 16-year-old boy was beaten and locked in a bathroom and arrested a man they say contributed to the abuse.

Anton Angelo, 45, was taken into custody at the home on Whitmarsh Street, Hernando County sheriff's spokeswoman Sgt. Donna Black said. He was charged with aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment.

Angelo is the live-in boyfriend of Tail-Ling Gigliotti, investigators say. He has lived with her and the teen victim for eight years, according to an arrest affidavit.

Gigliotti, 50, was arrested Wednesday and charged with aggravated child abuse and false imprisonment. She was released from Hernando County Jail on Wednesday after posting $15,000 bail.
Hernando Sheriff Richard Nugent said today that Gigliotti should be behind bars.

"That was the bond amount by statute," Nugent said. "I would like to see her back in jail."

On Wednesday, authorities wanted to arrest Gigliotti "before she got away," so the judge signing Gigliotti's arrest warrant agreed to the $15,000 bail amount required by state statutes to expedite the case, sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Black said.

Investigators on Thursday were able to explain more details of the case to the judge before Angelo's arrest warrant was signed, Black said. Angelo's bail is $50,000. He is being held Thursday night at Hernando County Jail.

Angelo and Gigliotti are accused of beating the boy with a plank of wood and a short section of garden hose. "The daily duties" of locking the boy in the bathroom was shared by Angelo and Gigliotti, affidavits state. He was put in the bathroom every time the couple left the house. The bathroom window was covered with plywood.

The 16-year-old managed to escape Monday and go to a neighbor's house for help. A deputy said he found the boy covered in bruises and cuts.

The teen told the deputy that on Sunday he was made to strip down while Gigliotti bound his hands with packing tape and beat him with a 3-foot length of wood and a short section of water hose, according to an arrest affidavit.

Hernando County Sheriff Richard Nugent said the boy was beaten recently because Gigliotti accused the teen of taking the keys to her Mercedes-Benz.

No one answered the door Thursday at Gigliotti's home or the music store she owns in Spring Hill.
The boy came from Taiwan when he was 4. Gigliotti, who told investigators she was the teen's aunt, also came from Taiwan, but it's unclear when she came to the United States or took custody of the boy.

Because of Taiwanese culture, the boy was submissive to adults, Nugent said. The teen blamed himself for the beatings, Nugent said.

The teen told detectives he had not slept in a regular bed for more than three years because Gigliotti had forced him to sleep on the hallway floor as a form of punishment, an affidavit states.

"There was nothing in that bathroom," Nugent said. "Not even a towel to wrap himself in."

Hernando detectives investigated a similar child abuse case in 2004. Lori and Arthur "Tommy" Allain were arrested after deputies found a malnourished girl - a foster child in the couple's care - who had been locked in her room for days at a time.

At 10 years old, the girl weighed only 29 pounds. Investigators say the girl was fed only a spoonful of food a day and a paint bucket was left in her room for use as a toilet.

The Allains refuted the charges, saying the girl had an eating disorder and was already malnourished when they took her in.

Arthur Allain was convicted on aggravated child abuse charges and is serving a 25-year prison sentence in Wakulla County. Lori Allain is serving the same sentence at Lowell Correctional Institute in Ocala.