BREMERTON, Wash. (AP) - A Kitsap County sheriff's deputy found a man with Asperger's syndrome, a form of autism, chained to a bed in a house near Bremerton.

An alarmed passerby noticed the chain and called police, prompting deputies and a representative from Adult Protective Services to respond to the home in the 3600 block of E Street in Navy Yard City.

"We went to the scene because we were asked to intervene by a passerby who said this guy called to me and I went to the house and there he was chained to the bed," said Dep. Scott Wilson.

The 39-year-old man did not appear injured. He was taken to a hospital yesterday for an evaluation.

A woman who also lives at the house returned while deputies were talking to the man.

The woman said he agreed to be chained by the wrist when she left him alone. He had access to the bathroom, kitchen and phone. But the man told deputies that he did not want to look at the woman who had chained him.

The woman said the chain was his decision as he battled addiction to drugs, alcohol and tobacco. She says she has lived with him five years as a caretaker and they are not romantically involved.

"Did he want to be chained? Oh, he would hold his arm out and wait for me to put it on because he couldn't get it on himself," the woman said.

Deputies said the woman used pepper spray on the 230-pound man whenever he became physically aggressive. She once sprayed the man four times in one day, they said.

The woman told the Kitsap Sun newspaper that she used the spray as an alternative to calling police because she didn't want him to get "lost in the system."

"He said 'you will never let me talk' and he started coming at me, so I sprayed," she said.

The woman claims he has helped the man through his struggle with his health issues.

"I felt that he and I had a pretty healthy respect here at the house for each other," she said.

According to the Kitsap Sun, those who know the man through his job said he was often without money, and had to "panhandle" coworkers. They suspect that the woman is using the man for money from disability checks, a charge the woman denies.

"He has his paycheck, I have mine," she said.

Ross Caldeira, the passerby who first noticed the man was chained, noted that the chain wasn't so substantial the 39-year-old couldn't find a way to break free. But Caldeira said the man was likely unsure of where he would find shelter if he left.

"He's handicapped, he doesn't know where he will go," Caldeira said.

The woman was not arrested. Deputies told the woman a prosecutor would be in touch with her.