Pennsylvania Couple Kept 5 Children in ‘Deplorable’ Conditions, Police Say

U.S.|Pennsylvania Couple Kept 5 Children in ‘Deplorable’ Conditions, Police Say

A Pennsylvania couple have been arrested and accused of keeping their five children in “deplorable living conditions” in a locked bedroom in their home that the authorities said “functioned as a dungeon.”

The children — a 14-year-old girl and four boys between the ages of 5 and 13 — were bolted inside a room in the couple’s home in Fairbank, Pa., that had feces on the walls, boarded-up windows and no beds, according to a police report shared by the Fayette County District Attorney’s Office.

“This room functioned as a dungeon with video cameras hard-wired to the father’s room,” a police report said.

It was not clear how long the children had been living in those conditions. Michael Aubele, the Fayette County district attorney, did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Thursday.

The couple, James Russell Kahl, 65, and Carly Kahl, 41, were arrested on Wednesday on charges that include aggravated assault, endangering the welfare of children, use of an incapacitation device and drug possession. It was not immediately clear if Ms. Kahl had a lawyer. Susan Elizabeth Ritz, a lawyer for Mr. Kahl, could not be reached on Thursday.

Mr. Aubele told CBS Pittsburgh that the State Police went to the couple’s house after a relative alerted the authorities to the children’s living conditions.

State troopers went to the home on Aug. 8, accompanied by workers from the Fayette County Children and Youth Services, according to the police report. The troopers saw that the children were locked in their room from the outside, behind a door with three deadbolts that had no inside handle, according to the report. The children would be locked in the room all night and for several hours during the day, the authorities said.

The children did not have adequate clothing or food, and their room was ridden with fleas, the report said.

The children were removed from the home at the time of that visit, the authorities said. On Wednesday troopers returned with a search warrant and seized a stun gun, a replica pistol, drugs and drug paraphernalia, the authorities said. The state police did not specify what type of drugs were found, though marijuana possession is among the charges that have been filed against the Kahls, according to court records.

Mr. Aubele told CBS Pittsburgh that the stun gun had been used on the children.

Mr. Kahl and Ms. Kahl were booked into the Fayette County Jail and were being held without bail, according to booking and court records.