A teacher assistant at Elephant’s Fork Elementary School has been charged with two counts of felony abduction and two counts of felony abuse and neglect of children for binding her own children, ages 3 and 1, with duct tape and threatening to kill them, police said Monday.

Police said that on Sunday, Oct. 5, they received information from a friend of Takiyah Wright, of the 600 block of Hillpoint Boulevard. The friend said Wright had left phone messages and sent text messages saying she was going to kill her children and dispose of their bodies in a garbage bag. The friend could hear Wright screaming at her children, and received photos on her cell phone of the children’s hands bound and their mouths covered with duct tape.

The Department of Child Protective Services also is investigating the case. The department removed the children from the house at the time of the incident, police said.

Wright was taken to Western Tidewater Regional Jail, where a $10,000 bond was set.

Suffolk Public Schools officials said Wright is employed as a teacher assistant at Elephant’s Fork Elementary School. When she was hired in September of 2007, she passed a background check, a city official said. As a result of the arrest, Wright has been removed from all school responsibilities and placed on administrative leave without pay. Per a school board ordinance enacted this summer, Wright’s salary will be held in an interest-bearing escrow account. If she is found guilty of the charges and all appeals are exhausted, she will be dismissed from employment and funds in the account will be paid to the school board. If she is found not guilty of the charges or they are dismissed, she will be paid the salary plus interest accrued in the account.