California couple arrested after children found in box
Mounds of trash and human faeces surrounded the desert property. (AP).
A couple in California are facing child cruelty charges after their three children were found in a wooden box.
Sheriff’s deputies arrested Mona Kirk, 51, and Daniel Panico, 73, on Wednesday when the children were discovered in a plywood box on a property in Joshua Tree national park.
Officials said the children – aged 11, 13 and 14 – were living in a box measuring about 6m long, 3m wide and 1m high, reports NBC.
Authorities also found about 40 cats and mounds of trash and human faeces around the desert property in southern California.
It had no running water or electricity.
The children - who were taken into protective custody - had been living in the rough conditions four years.
The children "were living in an unsuitable and unsafe environment," authorities said.
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