California police charge parents of 13 chained children
January 16, 2018
Police in southern California charged a couple with torture Monday after freeing twelve malnourished children from a house in the town of Perris, east of Los Angeles.
"Deputies located what they believed to be 12 children inside the house, but were shocked to discover that seven of them were actually adults," police said in a statement.
The siblings, ranging in age from 2 to 29, "appeared to be malnourished and very dirty" and several of the children were "shackled to their beds with chains and padlocks in dark and foul-smelling surroundings."
The thirteenth sibling, a 17-year-old girl, called police using a mobile phone after she escaped the house some 113 kilometers (70 miles) east of Los Angeles. Officers initially thought the emaciated girl was about 10 years old.
Police arrested the 57-year old father and 49-year old mother shortly after arriving at the house on nine counts of torture and 10 counts of child endangerment.
All thirteen children were sent to nearby hospitals for medical treatment.
A police spokesman told Reuters news agency he had no further details on any motive.
The family had moved from Texas to California within the last several years, according to The New York Times.
amp/jm (Reuters, AFP, dpa)