New disturbing details are emerging after 16 children were rescued from what authorities described as inhumane living conditions in Ohio last week. Now, a former FBI agent is weighing in on how the alleged abuse went undetected for so long.
The children, who range in age from 18 months to 18 years, were found by the Vinton County Sheriff’s Office on June 30 while deputies were investigating an unrelated crime. Four adults – believed to be the children’s parents and grandparents – have since been charged with 17 counts of child endangerment.
According to investigators, the family had moved frequently over the past two decades. The children were never enrolled in school and were allegedly kept mostly confined to a small room measuring no more than 12 by 12 feet.
During a news conference, Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said the conditions inside the home were ones “you cannot even imagine people being in, let alone children being in.”
Investigators said the children were living in conditions worse than livestock, adding that parts of the home were so deteriorated the children were “literally about to fall through the floor.”
“One of the investigative challenges is that [the children] are limited. They can communicate, but it’s extremely limited, and some not at all,” Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain said at a news conference last Wednesday, July 1.
“It’s not civilized”
Appearing on NewsNation’s CUOMO, former FBI special agent Jennifer Coffindaffer and criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos discussed how the family could have gone undetected for so many years.
“You get away with it because you conceal it by moving over and over again,” Coffindaffer said, according to VT. “You don’t let the children out of the house, and you keep them in that basement.”
Geragos said: “I think probably the thing that strikes me the most is the span of the ages.
“Eighteen months to 18 years is just stunning in terms of that.”
Wilson also described the children as “almost feral,” a term Geragos said he believes fits the circumstances.
“That’s actually a pretty good use of the word,” he said. “It’s not civilized, is, I guess, the best way I’d put it.”
Coffindaffer believes the investigation could ultimately lead to additional charges.
“I think there are going to be other charges,” she said. “I believe these older children, the females that were able to be of childbearing years, I think they’re going to have to do full DNA.”
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