16 Children Found Living in ‘Deplorable Conditions,’ 4 Adults Charged

Four people have been charged after authorities in Ohio found 16 children living in conditions they described as deplorable.

Gary Siders Sr., Gary Siders Jr., Christina Siders, and Elizabeth Siders were taken into custody on June 30 after authorities served search warrants on a property in the village of Hamden and found the children inside.

Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson told reporters shortly after the arrests that the children were living in “deplorable conditions,” adding later, “conditions you cannot even imagine people being in, let alone children.”

“Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain added during a briefing on Wednesday. “It was extremely high presence of bacterial and human feces. Just a disgusting scene.”

Cain said that the children had been kept in an area measuring about 12 feet by 12 feet for the past four years, which is how long the family has been in the county.

The family is believed to have been in other parts of Ohio previously, including Gallia County.

Wilson compared the scene to video footage of third-world settings, where children are covered in mud and bugs.

Investigators were led to the home as part of a “parallel investigation,” according to Wilson. Law enforcement officials declined to provide more details.

Some of the 16 children, who range in age from 18 months to 18 years, have serious medical conditions, authorities said. Two were flown to trauma centers, and some others were being treated at hospitals.

The children are all safe, and state officials were asking a juvenile court to transfer custody.

A judge in a hearing on Wednesday entered not guilty pleas for the adults who were arrested and charged with the second-degree felony of child endangerment.

The public is not at risk, officials said.

“This is an intra-family situation. This is not human trafficking,” Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer told reporters. “There is nothing to put our other children at risk.”

Hamden has about 700 residents and is in central Ohio, about 79 miles southeast of Columbus.

Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said in a statement that he was heartbroken to learn about how the children were living.

“Attorney General Wilson is an experienced prosecutor and he has told me he has never seen anything like what he saw today,” he said. “[First Lady] Fran [DeWine] and I pray for these children, and thank the children’s services workers, law enforcement officers, and medical personnel who are helping them.”