On the outside it looked like a normal home, nestled on a tree-lined cul-de-sac in the North Bay city of Fairfield, California.
But when investigators opened the screen door of the house on Fieldstone Court, they were horrified — 10 children had lived for years amid piles of spoiled food and feces, allegedly burned and shot with BB guns.
The case rattled a normally quiet suburb in Solano County and prompted a fierce defense from the children’s mother, who insisted Monday that she and her husband had done nothing wrong.
Authorities first encountered the family March 31, when Ina Rogers, 30, reported her 12-year-old son missing, according to the Fairfield Police Department. The boy was found asleep under a bush in a nearby yard.
Responding officers searched the home because of concerns for the child’s welfare and found nine more children between 4 months and 11 years old living in conditions police described as squalid and unsafe.
Behind the cream siding and the mulch garden dotted with Buddha statues,, authorities say they found urine-stained floors, human and animal feces, and debris stacked so high it made areas of the house impassable.
Rogers was subsequently arrested and booked into Solano County Jail on suspicion of child neglect, and all 10 children were taken to live with extended family members by Solano County Child Welfare Services. Rogers was released after posting $10,000 bail, according to county court records.
An investigation led police to find a “long and continuous history of severe physical and emotional abuse of the children,” officials said.
The father, 29-year-old Jonathan Allen, was arrested Friday and booked into jail on seven counts of torture and nine counts of child abuse. He is being held on $5.2 million bail and is due back in court May 24.
Speaking to reporters Monday afternoon, Fairfield police Lt. Greg Hurlbut said the children had suffered puncture wounds, burns and injuries consistent with being shot with a pellet gun or BB gun.
Chief Deputy District Attorney Sharon Henry said she was “horrified” by the children’s statements, which detailed “sadistic” abuse and torture dating back to 2014.
Earlier on Monday, Rogers defended herself in front of news cameras. She said her 12-year-old son had run away as an act of rebellion and that police had found her home in disarray because she had been frantically searching for him. The boy was gone for a few hours, Hurlbut said.
“The conditions they saw in my home was me tearing up my house, because my son was missing,” Rogers said. “I was afraid that I could not find him. You know, once that fear sets in, you don’t know what to do.”
She described herself as an “amazing mother” and heaped praise on her husband, saying that Allen has been unfairly vilified.
View attachment 7648
...article continues
https://www.msn.com/en-us/news/crim...other-denies-abuse/ar-AAxhvOe?ocid=spartanntp
THIS I DISCOVERED IS A DUPE. Sorry
View attachment 7650