đ¨ NEW MYSTERY: AFTER A COMPLAINT FROM A SCHOOL, THE PARENTS IN OHIO’S âHOUSE OF HORRORSâ CASE INVOLVING 16 CHILDREN SUDDENLY VANISHED… AND A HIDDEN CHAPTER FROM YEARS AGO HAS UNEXPECTEDLY COME TO LIGHT
WARNING – DISTRESSING CONTENT: Parents in Gallia County, Ohio face felony child endangerment charges after authorities allege their 16 children were never enrolled in school.
Court documents reveal that the 16 “feral” Ohio children never attended school (Image: supplied)
Disturbing new information has surfaced about the Ohio family with 16 “feral” children, disclosing that the older kids were “habitually truant,” though authorities were unable to locate the parents to deliver legal notices.
In October 2021, the Gallia County Juvenile Court filed six complaints against Gary Siders Jr. and Elizabeth Siders for failing to ensure their children attended school, according to court records. The court also filed truancy complaints against the six children, who ranged in age from 7 to 13 at the time.
The children were supposed to be enrolled at Addaville Elementary School in the Gallia County Local School District. The parents each face 16 counts of felony child endangerment in Vinton County Common Pleas Court. It comes after Elizabeth’s disturbing demand as she begged to be released from jail emerged.
Gary Siders Jr.’s parents, Gary Siders Sr. and Catherine Siders, are also facing identical charges.
Each count corresponds to a particular child, who is identified in court records by their initials and birth dates. Authorities conducted a search of a residence in Hamden on June 30, where the four Sider adults were residing.
Complaints were made by the courts, but the family couldn’t be located to serve the parents (Image: AP Photo/Carolyn Kaster)
During the search, officials report they discovered 16 children, ranging from 18 months to 18 years old, confined in a 12-foot-by-12-foot room. Investigators had no advance knowledge that children would be present in the home, stated Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson.
Wilson stated the children weren’t registered in school, and alleged that the adults “were hiding these kids” because they were aware the children were being neglected and would be removed from their care.
The Siders family also reportedly avoided generating medical or legal documentation to prevent leaving a paper trail, he stated.
Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders are also facing child endangerment charges (Image: undefined)
The complaint, submitted on Oct. 19, 2021, indicated that the Siders children were of mandatory school age, but had been “absent from school without legitimate excuse for the entire 2021-2022 academic year to present.”
Accumulating that level of absences meant the children were classified as habitually truant under state law.
Ohio designates a student as a “habitual truant” if they reach or surpass one of three thresholds of unexcused absences: 30 consecutive hours, 42 hours in a month, or 72 hours for the school year. When any of these benchmarks are reached, a district’s absence intervention team develops a plan to hold students and their parent or guardian responsible.
Students are then given 60 days to demonstrate improvement, or the school may submit a truancy complaint with the local juvenile court. The Siders children had accumulated 72 hours, approximately 12 school days, and failed to show progress on an absence intervention plan by the time the court submitted complaints, according to court documents.
Under state law, failing to enroll a school-age child in education is considered a minor misdemeanor, carrying a penalty of up to $500 in fines and a bond of up to $500 to guarantee the child’s future attendance. However, none of the complaints were ever delivered, as authorities were unable to track down the family.
According to birth certificates, the Siders already had 10 children at the time the complaints were filed. Meanwhile, the cops’ one haunting word uttered when they saw the Ohio ‘house of horrors’ and 16 ‘feral’ kids were revealed.
SOURCE: https://www.the-express.com/news/us-news/211998/ohio-siders-family-school-absence-children-complaint