The mom of 16 “almost feral” kids rescued from a feces-filled home was previously charged after six of her children failed to show up for school, according to court documents.
Elizabeth Siders and her husband Gary Siders Jr. were slapped with truancy charges in October 2021, court documents seen by the Columbus Dispatch revealed.
They were accused of not sending six of their children – who were between 7 and 13 at the time – to Addaville Elementary School in Gallipolis, a five-minute drive from where they lived at the time.
The children were defined as habitually truant because they had been “absent from school without legitimate excuse for the entire 2021-22 academic year to present,” the documents stated.
They had missed around 72 school hours when the charges were filed on Oct. 19 2021.
In Ohio, a habitually truant kid is someone who misses at least 42 hours of school in one month.
The case was dismissed in January 2022 – with Judge Thomas Moulton Jr saying the Siders and their kids were “unable to be served” because their location was “unknown to the court,” according to the filing seen by the Daily Mail.
Gary Siders Jr refused to comment on the charges when approached by the Columbus Dispatch.
It’s not known if the Siders’ children were enrolled in any other school.
They were found to be living in a feces-filled Hamden, Ohio, home when authorities executed a warrant for a “parallel case,” WCMH reported.
Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson had said investigators wore masks as they made their way inside the trash-stacked home, adding that the children looked “almost feral.”
“It really looked third-world. It is not something we are used to seeing in America,” he said.
The oldest child found inside the home, which had just five rooms and a bathroom, is 18, according to the authorities. They were born just two months after Elizabeth and Gary Jr. tied the knot.
They are developmentally disabled and unable to write her name, according to the authorities, who said that none of the children were enrolled at school.
“One of the investigative challenges is that [the children] are limited,” Ryan Cain, the Vinton County Sheriff, said.
“They can communicate but it’s extremely limited and some not at all.”
Elizabeth and Gary Siders Jr., as well as Gary Siders Sr. 73, and Christina Siders, 67, were arrested on child endangerment charges. All four pleaded not guilty at their arraignment.
Last week, a judge ruled that Gary Siders Sr will undergo a competency evaluation, which will determine if he’s competent enough to stand trial.
He was released on bail because he suffers from “a serious medical condition that requires specialized care in a hospital outside this area,” Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer said, without specifying the ailment.
“So the county was going to be on the hook for his medical care and…based on the information we were provided, his medical care could potentially bankrupt Vinton County,” he said.
Taxpayers foot the bill of defendants when they are being inside a county jail.
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