Anita Sadler, who lives in eastern Rowan County, said she delayed speaking about the incident, fearing District Court Judge Ted Blanton will “ship her kids away” since they are still technically in the custody of the Department of Social Services. But when Sheriff George Wilhelm told the Post that Sadler and her husband agreed with the treatment of her daughters, she felt compelled to respond.

Sadler said sheriff’s deputies didn’t tell her what they were going to do, and she did not agree with any of the steps taken.

When contacted, Judge Ted Blanton said he could not comment on any aspect of the situation involving the two juveniles — not why they were in court, their sentence or their behavior while in the courtroom.

“As a judge I am obligated not to speak about the particulars of a juvenile case, and I am obligated not to speak about an ongoing case,” both of which apply to this case he said. “I am going to recuse myself from the case and ask Judge (Anna Mills) Wagoner to reassign it to another judge.”

Sheriff Wilhelm was not available for comment on Wednesday or this morning.

Sadler acknowledges that one of her daughters had missed up to 25 days of school as of December. Sadler appeared with her 13- and 15-year-old daughters before Blanton so he could lecture them on truancy, as a juvenile counselor told Sadler he would. She said she was pleased a judge would “tell them what could happen if they kept skipping school because she couldn’t do anything else with them.”

“He (Judge Blanton) said the first time you appear before me in court you get 24 hours in the detention center. The second time you get 48 hours, and so on,” Anita Sadler said Blanton told her girls.

Thought this was the girls’ first appearance, Sadler said she still expected to return to the courthouse at 5 p.m. to take them home. Despite Blanton’s instructions, Sadler said she understood that “they did not have to go to the detention center this time, but the next time.”

After Blanton lectured the girls, Sadler said the 15-year-old was handcuffed and taken to the holding cell because she talked back to her. “She said something and I said ‘Not now’ and she said ‘But Mom.’ She was not disruptive, but it was more like a church mumble, and the judge said ‘That’s it. Get her out of here,’ ” Sadler said. Her 13-year-old was handcuffed by bailiffs after getting into a disagreement with Sadler out in the lobby.

Sheriff’s officials saw things differently.

At some point during or after Blanton’s lecture, the girl began shouting in the courtroom, according to Rowan Sheriff’s Sgt. Neal Goodman, who is in charge of the canine unit and handled the situation.

Goodman wrote that the girls were waiting for juvenile transport officers, and the 15-year-old made “continued profane outbursts.”

“I told Judge Blanton that if she continued to shout obscenities at that volume, the only place that I was aware of where she would not be offensive to others was our K-9 holding area. He (Judge Blanton) said ‘Fine!’ ” Goodman wrote.

Sadler says her daughter was yelling because her handcuffs were on too tight.

“She (15-year-old) said ‘I hollered and screamed because my hands were hurting,’ ” Sadler said. She said her 15-year-old’s wrist had been broken twice previously and the tight handcuffs were causing her fingers to swell. And her rings were cutting off the circulation causing her fingers to turn blue.

“She kept asking them to take them off or loosen them and they just laughed at her. She called one of them ‘Fat butt’ not using that nice of words,” Sadler said.

“She probably was loud … but the officers had no right to put her in the dog kennel,” Sadler said.

Goodman was unavailable for additional comment. But Chief Deputy Steve Schenk said he did not believe the girl was handcuffed when she was in the courtroom being loud and offensive. Juvenile cases are open to the public and other cases were waiting to be heard when the incident began.

Both handcuffed girls were taken to the holding cell adjacent to two courtrooms. There they began banging on the walls and yelling, which provoked Goodman to move the 15-year-old outside to the dog kennel, according to his memo.

Sadler said her daughter had to stand outside in the “cold rain, wearing a silk shirt, dress pants and no coat.”

Weather records at the Salisbury Post and Piedmont Research Station indicate, however, that there was no precipitation on Dec. 8. The Post recorded a high temperature of 58 degrees, and the Research Station recorded a high of 53.

The girl was held in a 10 foot-by-10 foot caged area with fencing six feet high and no cover. The kennels are secluded in a courtyard — narrow and long — between two court buildings. Sheriff George Wilhelm said previously that the pen was previously used for inmate recreation. Wilhelm also said the cage had just been built and has never been used by a dog.

Sadler said her other daughter, who was still being held in a holding cell adjacent to the courtroom, said her sister was gone for approximately 45 minutes. Wilhelm said the girl was outside for 15 minutes, until she was ready to be quiet indoors.

At some point that day, Sadler says someone called her from Juvenile Services and said her daughters were going to be put in the custody of Social Services.

“This is the first time I have ever had problems with this,” Sadler said of the Social Services’ involvement.

“I feel like the judge sent them off to keep us from finding out what he did,” she said. “I feel like the judge kidnapped my children.”

Speaking only generally of undisciplined juveniles, Judge Blanton said a judge can place a juvenile on probation for 90 days for being undisciplined. The first time they violate the terms of probation, they can be sent to the detention center for 24 hours. “If the children are beyond the control of the parents and they need to be attending school they can be placed in the custody of social services,” Blanton said.

Sadler said neither girl had been suspended from school, Erwin Middle or East Rowan High, for their absences. The letter from the school board was sent to Sadler as a warning.

“We went in court expecting one thing and got something totally different,” she said.

Sadler is supposed to be in court March 20 to regain full custody of her daughters, who returned home Jan. 14. She said she has considered legal action after they regain full custody.

She said she didn’t give her daughters permission to stay out of school but acknowledged she “knew where they were. They weren’t out roaming the streets.”

“Most of the time they are in the bed. The rule in our house is if you don’t go to school, you don’t talk to your friends and you don’t watch TV. I don’t know what teen-ager would want that,” she said.