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The attorney for a Toquerville mother charged with child abuse after her 12-year-old son was allegedly found malnourished and weighing just 30 pounds said Wednesday that the woman was overwhelmed by a child with "severe special needs."

Brandy K. Jaynes, 36, was charged last week in 5th District Court with the second-degree felony, a crime punishable by a maximum penalty of 15 years in prison.

According to court documents, the boy's father found him locked in a bathroom with sheets draped in front of it on Jan. 8. The father allegedly pulled down the sheets and saw two latches that were locked from the outside. Inside, documents say, he found his son lying on the floor with a blanket. The father told police he took the child from the home and to a nearby hospital for treatment.

Defense attorney Edward Flint said that after speaking with Jaynes, he believes that the 12-year-old child had special needs that were undiagnosed. Flint said the boy's behaviors reminded him of his own adult son, who is autistic.

"She's not an evil person who was trying to kill this child," Flint said. "She was overwhelmed."

Flint said Jaynes reported that her son had not been in school for three years, and school officials had once tested the boy for autism and wanted to do more testing. But she never asked for or received any help in diagnosing or treating the boy, Flint said.

"There was a breakdown," he said. "And that breakdown happened not that recently. Some time ago, the resources were there and for whatever reason, she did not grasp that brass ring for help."

The defense attorney said he has not yet received evidence from police and prosecutors about the alleged crime, so it was too soon to say what the woman's defense might be if the case goes to trial.

Flint said Jaynes told him that the boy's father was aware of the conditions that the boy was in.

No charges have been filed against the father as of Wednesday, but Washington County Attorney Brock Belnap did not rule out that possibility.

"The investigation is still ongoing," Belnap said. "And we will follow the evidence where it takes us."

Jaynes has two other children, Flint said, who were treated "just fine." Those two children are now in custody of state child protective services.

After the boy was taken for medical care, detectives searched Jaynes' home and discovered inside the bathroom where the child had stayed"what appeared to be feces" on the floor, according to a probable cause affidavit, and the "toilet bowl was full of feces to the point that you could not see any water."

There was also a blanket on the bathroom floor, as described by the victim's father, documents say, and the shower contained a few empty cans of beans and a spoon.

The shower's drain was covered with duct tape, according to the affidavit, and on a shower ledge raised a few inches off the floor, they found a video camera and baby monitor taped to it.

Jaynes told police that "her son wanted to sleep in this bathroom," documents say, and that she would occasionally lock her son in the bathroom "for his safety when she would leave the house."

She added that she was attempting to feed the boy protein drinks to "get his weight up," documents say.

The boy's two siblings told investigators that their brother had been in the bathroom for at least one year.

Jaynes is expected in court next Monday. She is currently being held in the Washington County jail in lieu of $20,000 cash-only bail.