Mother kept daughter in shed for two years

A California mother has been charged with locking her mentally disabled adult daughter in a wooden shed up to 12 hours a day for as long as two years.

Maria Isabel Eugenio, 64, told police she worked at a car wash and couldn't afford to care for her 40-year-old daughter.

She was charged with abusing a dependent adult and false imprisonment.

"I had asked God for help, but I simply ran out of time," Maria Eugenio said.

"I had to do something to keep her safe."

Sheriff's deputies found Socorro Eugenio padlocked inside a wooden trailer with a five-gallon bucket in place of a toilet.

She was allegedly kept there six days a week in temperatures estimated to be above 100F (37C).

Deputies, who used an axe to break the lock, said the woman was dirty and unwilling to leave the building.

Officials say the mother was unfamiliar with social service programmes and feared seeking help would hinder her daughter, an illegal immigrant from Mexico, from gaining US citizenship.

Socorro Eugenio was evaluated by doctors and is being cared for at a state facility.

Property owner Martha Casanova, 50, was booked on the same charges as Eugenio because police said she knew about the situation and did not report it.