Mother gets 2 years for locking son in basement

QUINCY, Ill. - A Quincy woman has been sentenced to two years in prison for locking her 5-year-old son in their basement.

Tricia Franklin, 27, received the prison sentence and a year of mandatory supervised release on Wednesday morning. She'll receive 241 days credit for time served in the Adams County jail since she was arrested in April.

She pleaded guilty last month to an unlawful restraint charge, waiving her right to trial in a deal with prosecutors.

Quincy police responded to a neighbor's report on Easter of hearing a child yelling for help and found the boy in Franklin's basement. Police said the child was crying and told them no one else was home. He also showed police how his mother tied a rope around his legs.

Police said the conditions in the basement were filthy, with a bucket for a toilet, exposed wires on the furnace panel and broken glass on the floor.

Franklin told police she left the boy in the basement because she had to go to work and she couldn't find anyone to watch him.