"Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children," Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said. "It was just a disgusting scene."
:max_bytes(150000):strip_icc():format(jpeg)/gary-siders-jr-elizabeth-siders-gary-siders-sr-christina-siders-mugshots-070226-6d8c2b19cb8f4e268e6ef59e4964cc32.jpg "Gary Siders Jr., Elizabeth Siders, Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders Mug Shots")
NEED TO KNOW
- Gary Siders Jr., Gary Siders Sr., Elizabeth Siders and Christina Siders were each charged with second-degree felony child endangering after 16 children were found in squalid conditions at the home
- The children, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years old and including both boys and girls, were kept for most of the past four years in a roughly 12-by-12-foot room
- All four adults pleaded not guilty at their arraignments Wednesday morning
State and local authorities in Ohio on Wednesday released disturbing details about the squalid conditions inside a rural home where 16 children were found Tuesday morning, leading to felony child endangerment charges against four adults.
Gary Siders Jr., Gary Siders Sr., Elizabeth Siders and Christina Siders were each charged with 16 counts of endangering children, a second-degree felony. All four pleaded not guilty at their arraignments Wednesday morning, and a judge set bond at $300,000 for each.
Rebecca Myers, a spokesperson for the state public defender's office, said the defendants had not been appointed legal representation as of Thursday morning.
Asked at a news conference Wednesday how the defendants are related, Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer said they are a grandmother, a grandfather, a mother and father.
Steve Irwin, a spokesperson for the Ohio attorney general's office, would not say Thursday whether all of the children are siblings or how they were related.
Authorities also would not confirm whether Elizabeth Siders gave birth to all 16 children.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the Siders had moved around Ohio since 2008, avoiding setting up medical and government records. Investigators believe they had been living in Vinton County for about four years.
Wilson said an unrelated "parallel investigation" led law enforcement to the home, which is owned by a trust.
The children, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years old and including both boys and girls, were kept for most of the past four years in a roughly 12-by-12-foot room at a residence in Hamden, Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said.
Cain said investigators found "a high presence" of human feces in the room but that the children had not been kept in cages. The 18-year-old is believed to be developmentally disabled and could not spell her name.
"Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children," Cain said. "It was just a disgusting scene."
Wilson said the children were in urgent need of medical care. Seven were taken to hospitals in Columbus, and two were flown to Level 1 trauma centers.
“In what I’ve seen up to this point, I think if they would have waited another 24 hours, there was a very high probability that we'd be dealing with a death or multiple deaths of these children,” Wilson said.
The children had not been enrolled in school.
"They looked like almost feral animals," Wilson added. "It was terrible."
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The children were in the temporary custody of the Ohio Department of Jobs and Family Services, Archer said. He emphasized that the case was an "intra-family situation" and did not involve human trafficking.
Hamden is a village of fewer than 800 residents and is about 60 miles southeast of Columbus.
If you suspect child abuse, call the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline at 1-800-4-A-Child or 1-800-422-4453, or go to www.childhelp.org. All calls are toll-free and confidential. The hotline is available 24/7 in more than 170 languages.