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An Ohio mother of 16 children facing sweeping charges of child abuse requested through her lawyer to be reunited with her kids during the trial this week.
Elizabeth Siders, 33, is charged with 16 counts of second-degree child endangerment alongside her husband, Gary Siders, Jr., and his two senior parents. The mother is being detained on $300,000 bond, but her attorney, J. Thomas Stolly, has requested that she be allowed to leave the jail under certain conditions, pointing to her lack of criminal history.
“Through conversations with Counsel, the Defendant maintains that her principal desire (is) to reunite with her children; she understands that reunification of any sort is an impossibility if she does not appear before this Court,” a court filing obtained by WOWK 13 says.
Stolly’s filing goes on to argue that Siders would not pose a threat to her children since they have now been removed from her care. A judge has yet to rule on the request.
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The other two suspects — Gary Siders Sr. and Christina Siders — also were charged with 16 counts of second-degree child endangerment. A judge entered not guilty pleas on their behalf during a court hearing last week, setting all four defendants’s bond at $300,000.
Officials have not confirmed whether all 16 children were related but said they ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years old and included both boys and girls.
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Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer clarified that the suspects are not originally from Vinton County.
“This is an intra-family situation. This is not human trafficking. There is nothing to put our other children at risk,” Archer said
Earlier last week, Ohio Gov. Mike DeWine said he was being updated on the case.
“It is heartbreaking to learn the conditions that these children were living in and to learn of their medical conditions,” he said. “Attorney General Wilson is an experienced prosecutor, and he has told me he has never seen anything like what he saw today. Fran and I pray for these children and thank the children’s services workers, law enforcement officers and medical personnel who are helping them.”
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Attorney General Andy Wilson publicized the case at a news conference last week after the children were removed from the home.
Wilson called them the worst conditions he had encountered in his career, describing it as “pure evil.” Several were in serious condition when found, and two were flown to Level 1 trauma centers because of their injuries.
“If they had waited 24 hours, there is a very high probability that we’d be dealing with a death, or multiple deaths, of these children,” Wilson said.
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Vinton County Sheriff Ryan Cain described horrid conditions the children were in, saying there was a high presence of feces and bacterial matter.
Fox News’ Louis Casiano contributed to this report.
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