Police: California couple arrested after 3 children found living in plywood box
March 1 (Reuters) - A California couple have been arrested after sheriff deputies found they were living with their three children in a plywood box without running water or electricity for years, the San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department said on Thursday.
Mona Kirk, 51, and Daniel Panico, 73, of Joshua Tree, California, were taken into custody on Wednesday and held in lieu of a $100,000 bail on suspicion of willful cruelty to a child charges, the sheriff said in a statement.
"The victims were found to have an inadequate amount of food and were living in an unsuitable and unsafe environment due to the conditions located on the property," the sheriff said.
The family lived in an 200-square-foot plywood box that was 4 feet tall for about four years. The property had no running water, electricity or heat and was covered with mounds of trash and human feces with dozens of cats found roaming outside and inside a travel trailer, the sheriff said. The Children and Family Services department took the three unidentified children - ages 11, 13, and 14 - into custody, the sheriff said.
"These children were not being held captive in a box; rather, the entire family was living in a very confined area," said Trevis Newport, a sheriff's captain, in a Tweet.
(Reporting by Brendan O'Brien; Editing by Nick Macfie)
