By JULIE CARR SMYTH and PATRICK AFTOORA-ORSAGOS
COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — The discovery of 16 siblings who authorities say were held at a rural Ohio home for years in squalid conditions is straining the county’s resources as it works to prosecute their parents and two grandparents and provide care to so many children at once.
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The local prosecutor said the cost of medical care required also for one of the defendants alone would have bankrupted Vinton County, which led the court to change the grandfather’s bond and release him from jail on his own recognizance for care at a hospital so the county didn’t have to pay for it. Meanwhile, the county sought help from other prosecutors on the criminal case and is counting on approval next week of $1 million from the state to assist with care for the children, including some who have medical needs or are unable to speak.
Vinton is Ohio’s smallest county and one of its poorest, a rambling 415 square miles of isolated Appalachian terrain with one traffic light and a single grocery store. That makes the case of the Siders family “an unprecedented child welfare crisis” there, state officials said.
Affording it is requiring the actions of both local and state officials.
One defendant was released to avoid more costs
On Tuesday, 73-year-old Gary Siders Sr. was released from jail after his bond was adjusted to not require up-front payment, and he was moved out of the county for medical care.
Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer Jr. said Siders had fallen at the jail and it became apparent that he “has a serious medical condition that requires specialized care.” In the regional jail, the costs of that care would fall on the county, Archer said.
“Based on the information the county was provided, his medical care could potentially bankrupt Vinton County,” Archer told reporters Wednesday. “We were not going to put that burden also on our local taxpayers.”
Siders is charged with felony child endangerment. Also charged were his 67-year-old wife, Christina Siders; son Gary Siders Jr., 36; and daughter-in-law, 33-year-old Elizabeth Siders, the children’s mother. They have pleaded not guilty, and some of their attorneys cautioned against drawing conclusions before more is known about what happened.
Vinton County Common Pleas Judge Laina Fetherolf Rogers made clear in her order that should the elder Siders’ health improve enough to leave the hospital, the GPS tracking device he’ll be required to wear also will be “paid for at the State’s expense.”
“A lot of small counties like us, we’re in the same boat as Vinton,” said Mike Davis, prosecutor for Pike County, another financially-strapped southern Ohio county. “If a person has a medical issue, do we pay the medical bills and keep them in jail and blow our budget, or do we let them out and risk something happening that’s worse?”
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