Paul Crawley

WXIA-TV, Atlanta

DOUGLASVILLE, Ga. — Police arrested a father on child cruelty charges after the man punished his 16-year-old son by making him carry a 23-pound landscape stone for several miles.

Charlie Mayes, a 40-year-old military veteran with no criminal record, told police he used military-style punishment because his son watched too many videos and didn't do his chores and school work. Douglasville Police charged Mayes on Tuesday with first-degree child cruelty.

"This was done multiple times over a three-day period, sometimes as early as 3 o'clock in the morning," Police Sgt. Todd Garner said.

Garner said the boy, who is only 4'2" tall, was also punished in-between the 3-mile hikes.

"In between that time, he was at home having to move rocks and stuff from one side of the back yard to the other and then being taken right back out to the same location and dropped off and made to walk back again," Garner said.

A pizza delivery driver alerted police to the teen's punishment walks, one of which was captured in the background of a police dash cam video during an unrelated traffic stop.

Police have yet to make the video available, but say the father freely admitted what happened.

"He did not feel that this was inappropriate at all and neither did his wife," Garner said.

A woman who answered the door at the family's home declined to comment.

Meanwhile police alerted DFCS about the case and Mayes got out of jail on $3,500 bond Monday.

A judge ordered the father to get family counseling.