Woman accused of tying up son in hotel closet for punishment

ONSLOW COUNTY, N.C. — Tiffany Rivera, 30, of Charlotte, is out on bond after she told Social Services she kept her son tied up in a hotel closet as punishment, according to court documents.

The Onslow Sheriff’s Office in eastern North Carolina contacted the Charlotte-Mecklenburg Police Department Crime Against Children Unit after investigators said the 4-year-old child was taken to Onslow Memorial Hospital in August with serious injuries to his neck, wrists, and ankles.

The investigation led officers to the Suburban Extended Stay Hotel on Hankins Road in north Charlotte, court records stated.

Rivera told social workers “She would tie the victim’s wrists and ankles together then put him inside a closet for punishment” because he “would eat all of her food, drink whatever he wanted” and defecate on himself, an arrest warrant stated.

Cindi Moore has lived at the hotel off and on for the last three years.

“Yes, I have seen her,” Moore said. “She was walking around out here.”

Moore said that many families and children live at the hotel.

She can’t believe what one of her neighbors is accused of doing.

“She’s lucky I didn’t find out before the cops got her, because I’m telling you right now, here, we’re family and we watch out for everybody’s little youngins,” she said.

Detectives said a relative saw the boy’s injuries and when he asked Rivera about it, she allegedly said, “I do whatever I want to my child.”

Moore, a mother and grandmother, is thinking about the child and wishes someone could have prevented the alleged crime.

“We can’t be doing this and if we see something like that, we need to report it,” she said. “Try to save them because they can’t save themselves.”

Police said that the boy spent several days in the hospital.

Rivera was charged with child abuse causing serious injuries.

She was arrested Monday and was let out the next day on a $5,000 bond.

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