The children, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years old, were found on June 30 after the Vinton County Sheriff\u2019s Office executed a search warrant at a small home in Hamden. The warrant was connected to a separate criminal investigation.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investigators believe more than half of the children spent the past four years confined to a small 12-foot-by-12-foot room, though authorities believe the alleged abuse and neglect likely began long before that.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson described the children as \u201calmost feral,\u201d according to CBS News, and said the conditions inside the home were ones \u201cyou cannot even imagine people being in, let alone children being in.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Authorities arrested Gary Siders Jr., 36, Elizabeth Siders, 33, Gary Siders Sr., 73, and Christina Siders, 67, at the scene. All four have been charged with 16 counts of child endangerment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Investigators also said none of the children had ever been enrolled in school and that the property was in a state of severe neglect, with dirt and feces throughout the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cOne of the investigative challenges is that [the children] are limited. They can communicate, but it\u2019s extremely limited, and some not at all,\u201d Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said during a news conference.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Several of the children required immediate medical treatment after they were removed from the home. Two were airlifted to specialized trauma centers after suffering what Wilson described as \u201cserious physical harm,\u201d while another seven were transported to hospitals in Columbus, including one child who was admitted to the intensive care unit and intubated.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
A first responder who drove four of the children to the hospital later described the emotional 20-minute ride.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt was just quiet\u2026 blank expressions,\u201d the acting fire public information officer said in a police interview, according to VT. \u201cOf course, they were scared. They\u2019ve never endured anything like that before. They didn\u2019t know where they were going, you know, that kind of situation.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
When asked whether the children spoke during the trip, he replied: \u201cThey didn\u2019t speak to me. I try to have limited contact, unless I was asked to help.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
He also described the condition of the home, saying it had \u201ccockroaches and stuff like that,\u201d before adding: \u201cBugs just in general and the conditions, you know, bugs get on the children and stuff and they scratch, and they bite and all that stuff. So, their condition wasn\u2019t the greatest.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n
According to The Independent, the home sits along a quiet road next to a steep railroad embankment where trains pass on their way to a nearby rail yard in the small village of fewer than 1,000 residents. Although trees and thick vegetation separate the property from neighboring homes, the house remains clearly visible from the road.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Despite having a direct view of the backyard, neighbor Josh Odell said he never saw any children at the home.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cI really hope they all get better. But, I mean, it obviously weighed on my conscience that I wished I could have done something,\u201d Odell told WSYX-TV, according to VT.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
Another nearby resident, Joseph Stewart, 60, said he also never realized children were living at the house.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
\u201cIt\u2019s a sad situation,\u201d Stewart said, describing the area as \u201ca quiet neighborhood,\u201d where he has lived for the past six years.<\/p>\n\n\n\n
The case remains ongoing as prosecutors pursue charges against the four adults. Each faces 16 counts of second-degree felony child endangerment, with each count carrying a minimum sentence of two years and a maximum of 12 years in prison. If convicted on all counts, each defendant could face up to 192 years behind bars. All four have pleaded not guilty and are being held on $300,000 bond.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The children, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years old, were found on June 30 after the Vinton County Sheriff\u2019s Office executed a search warrant at a small home in Hamden. The warrant was connected to a separate criminal investigation. Investigators believe more than half of the children spent the past four years …<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":14968,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-14967","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14967","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=14967"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14967\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":14969,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/14967\/revisions\/14969"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/14968"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=14967"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=14967"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/cehre.net\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=14967"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}