A Texas woman and her friend have been arrested on suspicion of torturing the woman’s teenage son by waterboarding him as a form of punishment for inappropriate behavior.

According to an affidavit filed by Kaufman County Police in Texas, the mother, Christi M. Howell, 40, and her friend Casey D. Shackleford, 45, have been indicted for injury to a 13-year-old child by waterboarding him, a banned torture method that simulates drowning.

“The victim said that Casey grabbed him by the hair and pinned him down on the ground and told Christi Howell … hereinafter known as suspected party … to get cold water and pour it on the victim’s face while he held a towel over his head and face,” the affidavit noted.

“The victim said that he was able to breathe slightly if he moved his head to the side and that kept him from feeling like he was drowning,” the affidavit added.

The boy said the pair became angry after he told them he had inappropriately touched the family pet.

Later in the forensic interview, the boy said in the past, he had been punished by his mother, for not performing sports exercise properly.

The couple is being held at the Kaufman County Jail, each facing a charge of felony injury to a child, said Kaufman County Sheriff's Office spokesman Fred Klingelberger, adding that he child is now in local foster care.

The charge carries a maximum sentence of 20 years in prison.

Waterboarding was on the CIA's list of approved enhanced interrogation techniques for use against high-value terror suspects after the 9/11 attacks. It is now banned.