Judge orders that parents of Charlie Bothuell have no contact with children

WAYNE COUNTY, Mich. – The parents of Charlie Bothuell were in court Friday morning for a probable cause hearing after being charged with torture and second degree child abuse last Friday.

Charles Bothuell IV and his wife, Monique Dillard-Bothuell, pled not guilty to the charges. Prosecutor Kym L. Worthy instructed both parents not to have any contact with Charlie.

The judge reduced bond for both of the defendants from $500,000 to $50,000 and ordered that they have no contact with Charlie or any of the other children. Both will wear a GPS tether.

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Bothuell IV was also instructed not to have any contact with Charlie's biological mother.

An indigency hearing is scheduled for March 6 at 8:30 a.m.

Allegations against them came in June, 2014, when Bothuell IV called the police to report his 12-year-old son missing. Charlie was found behind boxes in the basement of the home in the 1300 block of Nicolet Place in Detroit on June 25.

Charlie's parents have each been charged with one count of torture and second degree child abuse. Torture is a felony that carries a maximum penalty of life in prison. Second degree child abuse carries a maximum penalty of four years in prison.

After Charlie was found, Bothuell IV said he didn't know his son was in the basement of his home. He said he was "shocked" that his son was hiding in his home after he and police searched extensively for the missing boy.

In August, while Dillard-Bouthuell was in court for a gun probation issue unrelated to Charlie's disappearance, a court document revealed that investigators believed the boy was abused and that his stepmother put him in the basement and told him to stay there while police searched for him.