Seven children were discovered living in ‘horrific conditions’ and two of them were locked inside a room at a house in South Carolina, police said.
Erik Perez-Viera and Diana Salbon, the parents of five of the children, were arrested on Wednesday and were each charged with five counts of unlawful conduct toward a child.
Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office said an inspector with a property management company alerted authorities to concerns about the home at 122 Patriot Lane in Summerville on Wednesday.
He found a 3-year-old and 5-year-old locked in a bedroom with a deadbolt and called 911.
Chief Deputy Jeremy Baker said the children, ranging in ages from 1 to 5, were taken into the care of South Carolina Department of Social Services.
Two adults were arrested after seven children were discovered living in horrific conditions and two of them were locked inside a room at a house in South Carolina. Erik Perez-Viera. (left), and Diana Salbon, (right), were arrested and face charges of unlawful conduct toward a child
Berkeley County Sheriff’s Office said an inspector with a property management company alerted authorities to concerns about the home at 122 Patriot Lane in Summerville, (pictured)
Deputies determined Perez-Viera and Salbon were the parents of five of the children, Baker told The Post and Courier.
Human and animal feces were found in two bedrooms upstairs, as well as trash, WCSC reported.
Perez-Viera and Salbon also had their child, 1, at the doctor at the time as two other children were at school.
Another woman was living downstairs in the same house with two of her own children who were also at school at the time, but she has not been charged in relation to the case, the news outlet reported.
She was subletting the upstairs area to Perez-Vera and Salbon at the time of their arrest.
The landlord claimed officials were carrying out a home inspection and discovered the deadbolts.
Another couple was also living in the garage of the home and they were not home when the arrests were made. There were a total of 12 people living in the house, according to WCSC.
A total of 12 people, which comprised of multiple families, were found living at the property
A neighbor said the occupants of the house had received numerous fines for leaving furniture on the front curb
Meagan Quals, who lives in the Berkeley Commons neighborhood, claimed she witnessed the children being taken out of the home amid a large law enforcement presence.
She told ABC4: ‘They’ve been here for about a year. Multiple cars in and out, always parked on the streets.
‘A bunch of guys that were construction, and the females kind of looked like they were in the cleaning business would kind of leave earlier in the mornings, and then evening times when I came home from work I would see them back in.’
Neighbor Meagan Quals saw the children being taken out of the home amid a large law enforcement presence
She claimed the occupants had received numerous fines for leaving furniture on the front curb according to her father, who is president of the neighborhood HOA.
‘They have multiple fines for having stuff on the street, on the curb. We’re not supposed to have those parked in the road.
‘After hours they’ve had multiple fines with that, and with them renting the fines go to the actual homeowners.To see that this is one of our neighborhood kids locked away it’s, it’s heartbreaking,’ Quals added.
Another resident Lindsay Aggen said the suspects kept to themselves, she said.
She said there were signs of activity at around 6.30am when someone was leaving the home but neighbors did not think anything of it until news of the arrests spread.
Aggen told the Post and Courier: ‘[It] makes me sick, honestly. I feel bad that all of this was happening and nobody knew until now. … I have never seen a kid in or outside of this home.
‘There’s always construction-looking vehicles parked there and every trash day [Wednesdays] there’s an abundance of trash out front. I honestly thought the home was being flipped/renovated.’