VINTON COUNTY — New court documents reveal additional information about one of the adults who was arrested after authorities removed 16 children from an Ohio home.
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As previously reported, authorities executed a search warrant at a home in the Village of Hamden on Tuesday and found the children living in “deplorable conditions.”
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Four adults, later identified as Gary Siders Sr., Gary Siders Jr., Christina Siders, and Elizabeth Siders, were arrested and charged with 16 counts of endangering children.
Our media partner, WBNS-10 TV, obtained court documents that show authorities had an arrest warrant for Gary Siders Jr. It was requested on June 29 and served the following day.
This was when authorities discovered the children, our media partner reported.
The warrant is for four public indecency charges connected to incidents that happened at the home at the end of May.
It’s unclear if the public indecency investigation led investigators to the home.
As previously reported, all four adults appeared virtually in court on Wednesday, pleading not guilty. Each was given a $300,000 bond.
The children’s ages range from 18 months to 18 years old. They were removed from the home and are receiving medical care. Several of them are in serious condition, with two having to be flown to hospitals.
“Livestock has been kept in better conditions than the children,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said in a press conference on Wednesday. “I believe it was typical even law enforcement has experience with homes in similar fashion. The children were kept in a 12x12 area in what seems like the last four years.”
Cain added that there was a “high presence” of bacterial and human feces in the home.
Authorities also said that some of the children didn’t know how to speak, read, or write.
In an update, officials said the case was isolated to this family, adding that the suspects were the grandmother, grandfather, mother and father.
Wilson told media on Wednesday that if law enforcement would’ve waited another 24 hours to act, there was a high chance “we’d be dealing with a death or multiple deaths.”
The case remains under investigation.
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