LUMPKIN COUNTY, Ga. — What began as a search for a runaway child led Georgia deputies to a separate and troubling discovery inside a home in north Georgia.
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The Lumpkin County Sheriff’s Office says that on Dec. 23, 2025, deputies went to a home on Iberian Road as part of a follow-up related to a runaway juvenile report.
While there, deputies found a five-year-old boy who they said was being restrained in a way that is not allowed under Georgia law.
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Officials say several adults living in the home were aware of how the child was being restrained. Four adults were taken into custody in connection with the situation.
Those individuals have been identified as:
- Pedro Banuelos Herrera, 45
- Marisol Pena-Acosta, 41
- Pilar Herrera Hernandez,74
- Juventino Banuelos, 20
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The child’s condition has not been publicly disclosed. The Georgia Division of Family and Children Services responded to the scene, along with Lumpkin County Fire and EMS and Dawson County Fire and EMS.
Sheriff Stacy Jarrard thanked the agencies involved and said the investigation is ongoing.
Channel 2 Action News has reached out to the LCSO for the suspects’ list of charges.
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