Ohio authorities rescue 16 children confined to one room for four years

Police tape surrounds a home in Hamden, Ohio, where authorities removed 16 children and arrested four adults. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP View image in fullscreen Police tape surrounds a home in Hamden, Ohio, where authorities removed 16 children and arrested four adults. Photograph: Carolyn Kaster/AP Ohio authorities rescue 16 children confined to one room for four years Parents and grandparents charged as police say case in Hamden not human trafficking but ‘intra-family situation’ Sixteen children were rescued from a dilapidated home in rural Ohio after being confined to just one room in “deplorable conditions” for much of the past four years, authorities said on Wednesday. The children, who officials said are from the same family and were living in squalor with human waste all around, ranged in age from one and a half to 18 and included boys and girls. Some of them were unable to speak and one – an 18-year-old who was developmentally disabled – could not even spell her name. “Most of our livestock was kept in better conditions than the children,” Vinton county sheriff Ryan Cain said at a news conference, describing conditions with a high presence of bacteria and human faeces. “Just a disgusting scene,” he said. The children’s parents and two grandparents were each charged with 16 counts of second-degree felony child endangerment because it involves “serious physical harm”, said Vinton county prosecuting attorney William Archer. He also stressed that this was not a human trafficking case but an “intra-family situation”. Authorities discovered the children while carrying out a search warrant in an unrelated investigation, Ohio attorney general Andy Wilson said. “We didn’t know there were going to be 16 kids there,” said Wilson, who described what he saw at the home in the tiny village of Hamden, which sits in one of Ohio’s poorest counties, as “pure evil”. The “horrific” scene, Wilson said, was the worst he had encountered in his entire career. “It’s the type of thing that we’re not used to seeing here in America,” Wilson said, adding that nearly 24 hours later he still “can’t get the smell off of me”. The sheriff said it appears the children spent most of their time in a room that was roughly 12ft x 12ft. He did not disclose how they were kept inside the home, but said authorities did not find any cages in the house. Seven of the children were transported to hospitals in Columbus and two were flown to level one trauma centers by helicopters. One child was in critical condition on Tuesday and had to be intubated, Wilson said. “They looked like almost feral animals,” he said. “It was terrible.” Gary Siders Jr, Gary Siders Sr, Christina Siders and Elizabeth Siders appeared in court on Wednesday where a judge entered not guilty pleas on their behalf and their bond was set at $300,000 each. Investigators said members of the family had moved around southern Ohio over the past two decades and that it looks like they avoided setting up medical and go