Terry Ward, 64, admitted to police that he tied his wife to a chair and left her in their Richmond, Va. Basement, according to a criminal complaint.
Officers from the Richmond Police Department responded to the couple’s Maplewood Avenue home around 11:30 p.m. On Oct. 11, where Ward’s wife told them her husband had lashed her to a chair with tape and kept her downstairs for roughly 30 to 45 minutes. An officer noted tape markings around both of her arms, police said.
Ward admitted “that he did indeed tie his wife… To a chair and place her down in the basement,” cops wrote in the criminal complaint.
The incident went viral after a Facebook group called Virginia Statewide Incidents claimed Ward had restrained his wife so he could watch Sunday Night Football upstairs. The Richmond Police Department was unable to confirm whether Ward was watching football while his wife was restrained when asked by The Post. However, police were called around the time the Baltimore Ravens-Atlanta Falcons game ended in overtime.
Ward was arrested that Sunday night and charged with felony abduction and misdemeanor assault of a family member. He posted a $20,000 bond the following morning.
Court documents show Ward was ordered to avoid all contact with his wife and stay 1,000 feet away from their $675,000 semi-attached brick home. He’s additionally been told not to leave Virginia, must submit to drug and alcohol testing, and refrain from possessing a firearm.
Ward is a West Point graduate who served in the Middle East during Operation Desert Storm, where he received the Bronze Star, according to a since-deleted profile on the company website for Alcova Mortgage, where he worked. He is a father of two grown children.
An image posted by Ward’s wife on social media shows her beaming beside Ward in his military fatigues when he returned home from combat. The family’s social media pages are filled with photos of them together over the years, including one from several years ago showing Ward and his wife in a hot tub with Ward wearing a New England Patriots cap.
Ward did not respond to The Post’s request for comment.
Ward is scheduled to appear in Richmond court.