Parents and grandparents charged after 16 children discovered living in single room for four years
The sheriff said the children were discovered living in "disgusting" conditions littered with human faeces
The parents and grandparents of sixteen children discovered living in a run down house littered with human faeces have appeared in a US Court.
Listen to this article
Police chiefs believe the sixteen girls and boys, ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years, had been kept in a 12-by-12-foot room in Ohio for almost four years.
Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said the rural property, in the village of Hamden, Wass "disgusting" and littered with human faeces, with some children in dire need of medical help.
The children were taken to hospital, where one was placed in intensive care and two were flown to trauma centres with injuries while some have been examined and released.
“Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children,” Cain said on Wednesday.
Read more: Donald Trump makes £30million from UK golf resorts alongside billions in crypto earnings
Read more: Frantic search for US airman as Navy chopper crashes in Arabian Sea
Gary Siders Sr, 73, Christina Siders, 67, Gary Siders Jr, 36, and Elizabeth Siders, 33, have been charged with second-degree felony child endangering in the state of Ohio.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson described the scene as "pure evil" and said it was the worst he had ever come across in his career.
He said he could not get the smell of the house "away from me".
Officials said some of the children could not communicate at all, and others had limited speech.
None had been enrolled at school and the eldest child, aged 18, was described as "developmentally disabled" and unable to spell her own name.
Wilson, the attorney general, said the family was “pretty good at hiding these kids” and appeared to have moved around in Ohio before settling in Vinton County four years ago.
The home was owned by a trust.
“Justice will be served for these children,” Wilson said.
At the court hearing in Vinton County, a judge entered not guilty pleas on behalf of the four defendants who appeared via video link.
Each of them was ordered to be held on a bond of $300,000 (£226,000) and forbidden from contacting each other or the children.