SURRY COUNTY, N.C. (WGHP) — A Surry County man was charged with kidnapping after deputies alleged he beat his wife and locked her in a dog cage.

Sheriff Graham Atkinson said Fred Thomas Willard Jr., 46, beat his wife with a dog chain, spit on her, shocked her with an electric cord and forced her into a 40-inch-by-30-inch cage for "several hours."

"She didn't have a concept of time because of her injuries and the trauma she had experienced," Atkinson said.

When a family friend was unable to reach the woman by phone, he went to the home and found her locked inside the dog cage, Atkinson said. The friend was able to persuade Willard, who was still inside the home, to release her from the cage, Atkinson said. The friend then took the woman to the hospital and called the sheriff's department, Atkinson said.

"It is one of the most degrading and humiliating things I have ever heard in my experience in law enforcement," Atkinson said.

The victim was treated at Northern Hospital of Surry County for her injuries. She suffered a broken toe, sprains, cuts and bruises.

Neighbors who did not want to go on camera said the couple was rarely seen, and as such, they didn't know much about Willard or his wife.

Willard was charged with felony kidnapping. He was placed in the Surry County Detention Center under a $150,000 bond. Willard was convicted of assault on a female once before, arrest records showed.


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