Relative of Ohio parents accused of child endangerment speaks out after learning about 'deplorable conditions'
A relative of the Ohio parents accused of child endangerment after their children were allegedly 'left to rot' in a squalid home has spoken out on the allegations.
Ronnie Fletcher, who is married to the daughter of suspects Gary Siders, Sr., and Christina 'Lynn' Siders, has been speaking to the press about the 'deplorable conditions' he learnt about.
Fletcher told WOWK-TV that the extended family were shocked when the allegations came to light.
“Horrified. Worried about the kids. It’s hard to explain the action when you’re distant family,” Fletcher told the outlet.
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"What can I do to help?’ That was the original reaction to it.”
Siders Sr. and his wife, as well as their son, Gary 'Bub' Siders, Jr., and his wife, Elizabeth Siders are facing 16 second-degree felony charges each of child endangering.
It comes after 16 children were rescued from a home in rural Ohio after being found in what police described as 'deplorable' and 'pure evil' conditions.
Officials say the children ranged in age from just one and a half to 18 years old, and included both boys and girls.
The suspects were arrested on June 30 and all pleaded not guilty during an arraignment which took place on July 1.
While Fletcher and his wife are the children's uncle and aunt, he went on to tell WOWK-TV that they had become 'distant family' in recent years as they did not stay in regular contact.
Fletcher confirmed there were no tension within the family, though they did say they'd very much grown apart and lived their separate lives.
The relative of the Ohio suspects added: "It’s been awful for the people that had no idea that was going on the house that are related to this family.
"I mean, we’ve had death threats – we’ve been told that we need to be put in front of an execution line of guns and, you know, killed and burned. I mean, it’s been bad."
Fletcher continued: "If we would have known that it was like that in that home, we would have done something about it, even if it was just to go there and take the kids ourselves or give them money. Them girls [Gary Sr. and Christina’s daughters] would have went there and cleaned the house themselves if they’d known it was like that."
The relative went on to say that his children have been forced to delete social media over threats they've received, while his wife has even been unable to go to work because 'she works within the public and she’s scared'.
Fletcher went on to say his family are unable to live 'normal lives' despite the fact they had 'nothing to do with' with the child endangerment.
Police have said none of the 16 children had been enrolled into school, leading to some of them being unable to speak.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson said at a news conference: "These folks were pretty good at hiding these kids. We didn’t know there were going to be 16 kids there. It’s the type of thing that we’re not used to seeing here in America.
"They looked like almost feral animals. It was terrible.”
Callum Jones