Woman Chained; Parents Arrested

A Fullerton couple were arrested on suspicion of shackling their 21-year-old daughter to a bed for dating a married man, police said Monday.

David Mata Avila, 53, and Guadalupe Mata, 51, were being held on allegations of conspiracy of false imprisonment, criminal threats and assault and battery.

Giovana Mata called authorities after her father hit her with his fist, Fullerton Police Det. Mike MacDonald said.

When officers arrived at their apartment in the 100 block of Valencia about 5:30 p.m. Sunday, they could hear the woman screaming for help from a rear bedroom, MacDonald said. Officers found her on her back, shackled around the arms and ankles with 30-pound chains and padlocks.

“They wanted to discipline their daughter,” MacDonald said. “They didn’t like the fact that she was dating a married man.”

When her father unchained her, the girl “jumped out of bed and ran to the officer and embraced him, thanking him for helping her,” MacDonald said.

The woman told police it was the first time she had been chained, he said.

She may have been shackled for as long as 30 minutes, and suffered bruises to her back and redness to her wrist and legs, police said.

The parents are being held at Fullerton City Jail in lieu of $25,000 bail each, police said. They are scheduled to be arraigned Wednesday at North Justice Center in Fullerton.