Ohio sheriff's deputies who were investigating a sexual assault served a search warrant on a home and found children who were being kept in horrifying conditions, WSB-TV reports.
According to a press release from the Hocking County Sheriff’s Office, officers found a three-year-old inside a filthy cage filled with bugs that had been locked using zip ties. A 2-year-old was also found walking around inside the home “holding a methamphetamine pipe.”
The children’s parents, Franklin “TJ” Varney and Megan Smith, ran from the house “due to their involvement with the sexual assault investigation.” Officers arrested Ella Webb, the children’s grandmother, who also had legal custody.
Varney, Smith and Webb have all been charged with endangering children.
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“I very, very strongly encourage Mr. Varney and Ms. Smith to immediately surrender themselves to law enforcement,” Hocking County Sheriff’s Office Chief Deputy Caleb J. Moritz said in a statement. “If they chose to run from their responsibilities, as they did tonight, the Hocking County Sheriff’s Office will tirelessly leverage every local, state, and federal resource available to bring these two to justice.”
The children have been placed in foster care.