Cops: Parents Bound Son, 8, With Tape

FEBRUARY 13--A married couple has been arrested on felony charges after their eight-year-old son suffered “permanent disfigurement” when he was bound with tape “from his shoulders down to his feet” in an apparent disciplinary measure, police say.

As alleged in an arrest affidavit, Nicolas Barcet, 56, admitted chasing his child around their Florida home before “grabbing the victim against his will.” Barcet then picked up the boy and carried him to the child’s bedroom.

“The defendant held the victim down as he utilized tape to tie up” the child “from his shoulders down to his feet,” investigators allege. While this was occurring, Barcet’s wife Alix, 45, looked on and did not intercede.

The boy, who was left alone in his room, told cops he yelled for help and “attempted to stand up despite not being able to move due to the tape.” While trying to get up, the child fell on his face, “splitting his chin open.”

“The victim could not brace himself for the fall due to his limbs being bonded to his body by the tape,” according to the affidavit.

When the boy’s parents later found him “bleeding on the bedroom floor,” Nicolas Barcet told cops he “performed first aid to get the bleeding to stop.” The couple did not call emergency services or bring their son “to a medical facility to have the laceration properly checked and closed.”

Court filings do not indicate how police, who arrested the Barcets Sunday evening, learned of the taping punishment (which reportedly occurred about two months ago). Both parents, cops say, confessed their respective roles in the incident after being read their Miranda rights.

Nicolas Barcet was charged with felony child abuse and booked into the county jail, from which he was released Tuesday upon posting $15,000 bond. Charged with neglect of a child, Alix Barcet spent a night in custody before she was freed Monday on her own recognizance.

Through their lawyers, the couple yesterday entered not guilty pleas to the criminal counts. A judge ordered them to have no contact with the victim, whose current custody status is not addressed in court records.

The Barcets, who were born in France and wed in Grenoble in 2016, last year purchased their St. Petersburg home for $490,000. Nicolas is an executive with the Red Hat software company, while Alix’s Instagram page describes her as a sailor, diver, and yoga teacher. (2 pages)