Renee Leon of Burien faces three counts of second-degree assault of a child after prosecutors accused her of subjecting her 7-year-old stepson to repeated punishments including binding his hands and forcing him to ingest soap and hot sauce.
Court documents detail allegations that Leon tied the boy's hands for periods of two to four days, monitored him via Ring cameras, and made him sleep on a mat without a blanket in a walled-off bedroom area. The child reported the incidents to his school nurse, who contacted Child Protective Services and the King County Sheriff's Office.
The nurse's report, filed May 27, described the boy saying his hands were wrapped like mittens as punishment for behaviors such as picking his nose. Investigators visited the home on June 5 and found photographs of a person in a straitjacket near the boy's sleeping area.
Leon, who previously operated a daycare called Aunties Playhouse, is scheduled to go on trial in early August. The boy told authorities he often felt sad about his treatment.