Boy, 6, locked in basement and forced to eat so many carrots his skin appeared to turn orange

A Utah couple is accused of locking their adoptive son in a small basement and forcing him to eat carrots.

Clarissa Anne Tobiasson, 27, and her husband Brett Parker Tobiasson, 31, were arrested after a police investigation revealed that the couple's adopted 6-year-old son was allegedly forced to live in horrifying conditions. Police believe the alleged abuse began when the child was 5.

According to the Utah County Sheriff's Office, the little boy would be locked in a room in the basement of the Eagle Mountain home from 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. to 6:00 in the morning.

The only thing the child had in the room was a mattress and blanket to sleep on. Authorities said there was no electricity in the room and nowhere for the child to go to the bathroom.

"The boy described that he would go to the bathroom while in the room and put the waste in a hole in a wall so he would not get in trouble," a press release from the sheriff's office stated.

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Investigators also learned that the child was fed a diet that "consisted largely of carrots."

The parents would allegedly make the boy eat carrots before every meal and if he did not finish the vegetable in a certain amount of time, he wasn't allowed to eat anything else.

A witness who stayed at the home for a few days told investigators that one night she brought pizza for dinner but the couple would not let their son eat any until he finished his carrots, Fox 8 reports.

The parents allegedly gave the child 15 minutes to eat the carrots and when he couldn't finish in time they refused to give him pizza.

The woman told authorities that her stay at the house was the "worst four days of her life," and she had noticed that the little boy had a "orangey" tint to his skin.

"In another instance he was disciplined for eating samples at a local store when he knew he was supposed to eat carrots before eating anything else," police said.

The couple also adopted the boy's 2-year-old brother and they have a 2-month-old child of their own.

The little boy is now in the care of his grandmother, while the other two children are in the custody of the Division of Child and Family Services.

Clarissa and Brett Tobiasson were booked on one count of second-degree felony child abuse. Bail was set at $10,000.