This week’s most popular story: After police in Toledo, Ohio, arrested a father and son on suspicion they had held the man’s teenage stepdaughter in chains in their basement, they began an investigation into who these men were. The answer for at least one of them turns out to be a transphobe.Esten Ciboro, 27, ranted online about transgender people using the proper restrooms at Target, while police said he and his father had kept his 13-year-old step-sister from using their bathroom and shackled her at the ankle.
Ciboro, had recently posted an anti-LGBT message on Facebook. He criticized the Target retail chain for its inclusive bathroom policy allowing transgender employees and customers to use the restrooms matching their gender identity.
The post from May 4 says, “For those unaware: Target will be allowing men in the girls’ restrooms of its stores and will also allow women in the boys’ restrooms of its stores- all to support queerism and confusion.”
Ciboro and his father, 53-year-old Timothy Ciboro, face criminal charges of kidnapping and child endangerment, according to the Toledo Blade. According to media reports, two weeks after ranting about Target‘s support of “queerism,” the 13-year-old girl escaped the clutches of the Ciboros by using a spare key to unlock the leg irons that kept her prisoner in their basement.
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The girl is Esten’s step-sister and Timothy’s step-daughter. She told police they had restrained her at the ankle many times, once as long as a year. For food, they fed her spoiled scraps, and forced her to use a bucket containing ammonia instead of a toilet, according to court documents.
According to police, this was punishment for when the teen wet the bed.
Three other minor children living in the home were removed for their own protection.
Timothy Ciboro, a former firefighter, told WTVG-TV in a jailhouse interview that he loves his kids. “I miss my babies with all my heart. I want them to do right. That’s the way they were raised. If they have any questions, all they have to do is open the Bible and they will have all the answers.”
While reports shed no light on the mother of Ciboro’s other children, he told police the teen’s mom left several years ago for Las Vegas.
Watch the WTVG interview with Ciboro here.