OCONEE COUNTY, Ga. -- Oconee County sheriff's officials say a couple beat their 12-year-old son, shot him with pellet guns, pepper-sprayed him and handcuffed him in a closet for hours. The parents claim it was discipline.

Police said what the 12-year-old boy told sheriff’s deputies is heartbreaking. The boy’s mother and stepfather are now being held at the Oconee County Jail. The sheriff said the incidents came to their attention when the boy’s 6-year-old brother told a teacher what was going on at home.

Oconee County Sheriff Scott Berry showed pictures to Channel 2's Rachel Kim the 12-year-old boy drew for police officials. The pictures depict how the boy said his parents kept him tied up in a dark closet with his face against the wall, on his knees.

SLIDESHOW: Drawings Of Alleged Child Abuse Victim

“With his hands bound to the clothes rack with shoestrings and also with handcuffs,” said Berry. “We observed and photographed the marks on his chest, buttocks, legs and genitals.”

Damita Peak and her husband, Norris Walker, told authorities it was discipline.

“One of the reasons he was punished, (Walker) said, was because (the boy) took a can of corn for something to eat,” said Berry.

Police said the boy also told them his parents sometimes forced him to sleep on the floor in the family’s kitchen. The boy also told police his parents made him use a jug to go to the bathroom while he was locked in the closet.

Investigators said the handcuffs and pepper-spray came from Peak’s job as a Walton County jailer.

VIDEO: Parents Accused Of Pepper-Spraying, Handcuffing Child

Michelle Kesse lives next door to the family in a Bogart duplex and said she noticed the 12-year-old always wore big, long-sleeved clothes when he went to school. “He doesn’t talk. He just gets off the bus and goes straight inside. When the kids play outside, he doesn’t come outside and play,” said Kesse.

“I don’t know that he’ll have permanent physical scars. I’m sure he’ll have long-term emotional scarring,” said Berry.

Berry said the 12-year-old and his 6-year-old brother are now in the custody of the Department of Family and Children Services.

Authorities said since the family lived in Clarke County before moving to Oconee County, Clarke County officials are joining in on the investigation.