The dodgy Ohio dad accused of keeping 16 “almost feral” children in a feces-infested house was wanted for flashing his neighbors during one wild week this spring, records show.
Gary Siders, Jr., 36, exposed himself to people outside the Ohio hellhole at least four times in May, according to court documents.
Siders flashed his “private parts” on May 23, May 27, May 29, and May 31, court documents state.
The criminal complaint was filed on June 30 — the same day that authorities executed a search warrant that exposed the deplorable squalor that he, his wife and his parents allegedly kept the children in.
Authorities had no idea that the 16 “almost feral” kids were in the Vinton County home when they arrived to serve Siders with the warrant for his arrest.
The children — ranging in age from 18 months to 18 years — were allegedly kept isolated in a 12-foot by 12-foot room littered with human waste.
“Some of these children couldn’t even speak,” Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said earlier this week.
“This is terrible. They looked like almost feral animals. It was terrible. So when we’re talking reading, writing and education, we’re talking a whole other level of expectations here. It’s hard enough just to get these kids to be able to – the 18-year-old can’t spell her name.”
Siders, his wife, Elizabeth Siders, 33, and his parents, Gary Sr., 73, and Christina, 66, were arrested and face multiple charges of endangering children.
Siders was 18 years old and had only finished ninth grade when he married Elizabeth in 2008, who was 15 at the time, according to records in Mason County, West Virginia.
Their now-18-year-old was born two months after the marriage, NBC4 reported.
Children aged 16, 15, 14, 13, 11, 10, 8, 6, and 5, along with 4-year-old twins, 2-year-old twins and 1-year-old twins, were also found in the squalid home.
Seven of the children were hospitalized in the Columbus area, including two who were taken to trauma centers.
One was in critical condition on Tuesday, Wilson said.
All four suspects face up to 16 counts of child endangerment and $300,000 bonds each — and could spend a maximum sentence of up to 192 years in prison if found guilty.
It’s unclear whether Siders and his wife are the parents of all 16 children. But her lawyer believes she is the biological mother of all of them.
Siders is due in court July 23 for his public indecency charges.
