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NATCHITOCHES, La. -- A Natchitoches Parish mother who tied her two children to a bed while she slept has been sentenced to prison, District Attorney Billy Joe Harrington said. Michelle Benjamin, 30, of Natchitoches, pleaded guilty during the start of her trial to cruelty to a juvenile. District Judge Desiree Dyess accepted a plea agreement and sentenced Benjamin to 15 years, with 10 served in a state prison and five years on supervised probation. Benjamin was arrested in 2023 after her two children were found restrained with zip-ties to a bed. A visitor to the house freed them after hearing them call for help.