Fairfax County Police have confirmed a mother and her partner were arrested after officers found two little boys chained to a table in an apartment in Groveton.

The mother and partner were arrested August 15 and the boys, aged nine and seven, are now safe and living with their father.

Police rescued the brothers two weeks ago, after an adult called for help.

Twenty-nine-year-old Franklin Viera Guevara and 46-year-old Wedni Del Cid Rodriguez are charged with child cruelty, child neglect and abduction.

The older brother told Telemundo44 that he was chained up after he went outside without permission.

The father who does not live at the apartment and is not charged says the children did not tell him they were being chained, when they came to visit him.

News4 is not sharing his name to protect the identity of his children.

"When I heard I was like wow why did this happen... Children don't deserve to be treated like this... we don't have the right to treat them like this... maybe a criminal but not innocent children... they're children."

The older child tells News4 police were alerted when he borrowed a cell phone and called another adult, sending a picture of the handcuffs and chains, That person then called police

One woman, who asked News4 to protect her identity, spoke to the person who called the police.

She said the kids called her for help... She showed me the picture... I was shocked, scared... They don't even tie up animals like this. It was a huge chain... it was 4 times bigger than a door chain. I told her that 's inhumane...

A search warrant filed by Fairfax county police says both children would be chained to a table

next to where they slept. They would remain chained until 3 p.m. - 6 p.m. when adults arrived home.

The boy says he could only take about six to seven steps and is now relieved to be in his father's care.

A neighbor and young father who watched the arrests unfold was horrified to learn what had been going on in the next building.

"It infuriates me inside that people would actually do that to children," he said.

News4 doesn't yet know for how many days or weeks the boys had been chained up. Neighbors say they were attending school last school year. Their mother is back in the apartment after bonding out. Viera Guevara -- the man arrested -- is being held without bond.

News4 knocked on the apartment door where the boys' mother lives to see if she wanted to comment on the charges but she did not answer.