Prosecutor provides update on Vinton County child endangerment case

[0:00] 10 TV following breaking news this afternoon out of Vinton County. Any [0:04] minute now, the Vinton County Prosecutor providing an update right now. [0:07] Take a listen. A couple of points that needed to be addressed. First, the [0:12] ciders cases, they are Vinton County cases. We have appreciated the support [0:18] of the state and the Ohio Attorney General, but they continue to be [0:21] Vinton County cases and all decisions will be made by my office. The Attorney [0:29] General did offer assistance and has agreed to provide a assistant AG. Her [0:34] name is Kara Keating and yesterday motions were motion was filed to have her [0:38] appointed special prosecutor to assist me in the prosecution. Also Annika [0:45] Collins, who is a Highland County prosecuting attorney. I also filed a [0:49] motion to have her appointed as a special prosecutor as she was an old [0:53] colleague of mine when I worked in Highland County. Both of these women are [0:57] outstanding prosecutors with extensive experience in child cases and they [1:02] will do nothing but help our team progress through these cases. The other [1:09] thing finally on that point is for the taxpayers, these special prosecutors [1:14] come at no cost to Vinton County that they've either volunteered or they're [1:18] being paid by their respective offices. Point number two, I think most of you are [1:24] aware now that Gary Siders senior, the older Gary Siders was provided with a [1:30] bond today, an O. R bond. Let me explain the circumstances around that. First, let [1:35] me stress the community is not at risk because of this bond. Yesterday, as you [1:44] all know, the cases were scheduled for preliminary hearing during the [1:48] transport. Mr. Siders fell and had had a medical issue that required treatment [1:55] and assessment. Oblentis Hospital was where he was taken and it was determined at [2:01] that point upon some tests that Oblentis did that Mr. Sider senior has a serious [2:06] medical condition that requires specialized care in a hospital outside of this area. [2:13] Practically, and I don't know if you folks know this or not, but when defendants [2:21] are housed in county jails, it is the county's responsibility to pay for the medical [2:27] care. Prisons are for defendants who have been convicted. Then the state pays for [2:34] it. But he's still an innocent man that has not been convicted yet. So the county [2:40] was going to be on the hook for his medical care. And again, based on the [2:45] information that we were provided, his medical care could potentially bankrupt [2:48] Vinton County. We were not going to put that burden also on our local taxpayers. And [2:54] so it was agreed that we would do a recognizance bond so he could get the [3:00] medical treatment that the doctors say he needs and won't cost the county that [3:07] money. If he's released from the hospital, he will then be equipped with a GPS [3:13] monitor. Also, if you haven't already noticed on the docket, his defense [3:19] attorney's attorney did file competency motions. As I'm sure you have noticed from [3:26] the proceedings in which he's been present, there's certainly been some [3:30] issues about his ability to go forward on the prosecution. And so his defense [3:36] attorney decided to file those motions to have him assessed. That is all that I [3:41] have at this point. I'm willing to answer briefly questions related to that. I [3:46] will stress with you, our office has specifically not addressed the factual [3:51] nature of this case because it is still under investigation. There's a lot of [3:56] information still out there. And in fairness to the defendants, particularly [4:00] to the victims and to the community, we're not releasing information until [4:05] it's appropriate to do so. Again, having said that, I'll address whatever questions [4:09] there might be. [4:10] Yes, Mr. Baum filed a second response and indicated the comments were not made by me. [4:28] And I made that clear. If you go back and review the comments that I made, I simply [4:32] laid out what happened in court and that it wasn't human trafficking because that [4:38] was a major issue to the community. And I wanted to make sure they knew this was not [4:43] human trafficking. You know that that's a hippie issue and that's not anything that I can [4:55] address. [4:56] Elizabeth's attorney has expressed concerns that she could be a victim in this case. [5:00] Is that something your office? According to her attorney, she's not a victim. So we'll [5:06] let him decide how he wants to address his representation of her. [5:10] I'm sorry, ma'am. Are there any questions about the mental capacity of the other? [5:19] Capacity? Again, that's up to their defense attorneys to whether they want to go down [5:27] that road or not. So that's a better question for them. [5:29] Social media has been a part of this case. There's been a lot of attention. Can you speak [5:34] to how that impacts your office and how it works? [5:41] If you've seen some of the stuff on the social media, there were pictures that the kids were [5:48] in cages, that they were taped shut, their mouths and whatever. The problem with social [5:55] media is you don't have to be telling the truth. You don't have to be saying things that's [5:59] accurate. I don't understand why people put stuff like this on. It's not truthful. It's [6:05] not accurate, but I can't stop it. And all I can do is shrug my shoulders and say, why are [6:10] we doing this to this, particularly to these victims? Because they're going to be tarnished by this [6:16] for a long part of their lives. [6:18] Can you share about the children's condition? Are they all out of the hospital? [6:24] I can't answer that specifically, but I will tell you that they are all safe and being cared for. [6:35] Again, I can't address that specific fact. Were all four of these suspects receiving state benefits, [6:41] if not all of them, who was? To my knowledge, only the two elderly. The two oldest, Mr. [6:50] Grandma and Grandpa were the only ones I'm aware of that were receiving benefits at that time, [6:54] at the time of this incident. Are you still expecting more charges? I don't know. [6:58] I don't know. Are you still expecting more possible charges? The investigation is ongoing. When do you [7:05] expect a grand jury to invite them? Do you know what they need next? [7:09] The grand jury is a secret process. We do not disclose specifics on that. We hope to be [7:19] having information for that within the next couple of weeks. What I will tell you is this is not [7:23] Franklin County, who has grand juries every day, practically. Normally, Vinton County has a grand [7:29] jury every other month, which is why the preliminary hearing issue came up. It's because we don't have [7:36] grand jury that often, and by right, the defendants have the ability to have that hearing. [7:40] Has anything been done to assure that all 16 children belong to the same person? [7:47] I can't address that. Can you address any comment, Mr. Prosecutor, real quick, [7:52] the relationship or what you learned about the relationship of the deceased property [7:56] over in the other deciders family? Other than being tenants, I don't know that there is any. [8:04] Were they children have births and lost? Wait a minute. I'm sorry. Were they tenants, [8:08] were they paying rent, or were they suppliers? My understanding, they were paying rent, yes. [8:12] Do the children have birth certificates? I don't know that we have all their birth certificates. Let me [8:22] answer that. Were they all registered with the state? Again, a little bit beyond what I can tell. I [8:27] answered you what I knew, what I know at this point. Your senator's junior will be in court tomorrow [8:31] for unrelated charges? He will not. His defense attorney is on vacation and has filed to continue. So [8:39] if you were planning on coming, I'll save you your time. That has been continued. I don't know what the [8:45] new date is. Check with county court, but it is not happening tomorrow. Is that the parallel [8:49] investigation that brought investigation? I can't answer that. Do you know if anyone [8:53] in the family was working how the family got in? Again, we will get to some of those things when [9:02] we have a little bit more of an ability to give you some more of the facts, but I can't get into that [9:07] anymore. Can there speak to any general agencies or in the investigation? How many agencies? Can you speak to [9:14] if there's any federal agencies involved in this investigation? No, not to my knowledge. Do you know of any [9:19] children's services safety checks conducted at that home, be it Franklin County, be it [9:24] Vinton County? Was there any mandatory reporting, especially by hospitals or medical officials? [9:30] Yeah, I can't address that. Sorry. The indecency charges. Can you sure [9:34] any more about that investigation and the allegations he's facing when it comes to that? [9:40] I can't. I can't. Okay. Thank you very much. Thank you. As you have been listening live, [9:53] the Vinton County prosecutor giving an update in the child endangerment case we've been following [9:59] involving 16 children discovered last week in one home there in Vinton County. So that was [10:07] prosecutor Vinton County prosecutor William Archer clearly wanting to give an update and it sounds [10:14] like he wanted to update not only the media but also the public about the situation surrounding Gary [10:19] Siders senior who was released on a recognizance bond and he wanted to explain why and it all surrounded [10:27] what appears to be a medical situation involving the senior Siders family member. It sounds like he had [10:33] a fall and so they needed to get him to the ER to evaluate kind of his situation there and in that [10:38] process also discovered that they were dealing with a specialized care that would be needed for [10:44] medical issues. So that is why he is no longer in jail at this hour. So that was one of the things [10:49] he wanted to update everyone on, but also updating on the special prosecutors that will now be joining him [10:56] in prosecuting this case as it moves forward, pulling people from different counties. Yes, [11:02] he listed one of them, which was a Highland County prosecutor Annika Collins, [11:07] who he said he's worked with before. So she is one person that is now going to be assisting him [11:12] as a special prosecutor. Also Kara Keating, who is a special prosecutor from the AG's office. [11:18] So he is getting help from different offices, but Archer was very clear to let people know this is a [11:23] Vinton County case. This is a Vinton County investigation. The state is assisting, but all [11:29] information and the core unit, if you will, of who are the investigators, who's handling this case [11:34] from here on out is all going to be through Vinton County. Some of the other things that we heard in [11:38] this news conference just now, we had a lot of questions you heard there within after he updated [11:44] everyone. He would not respond to questions about the conditions of the children, the 16 children, [11:51] and whether or not they're even still in the hospital. All he would say is that today they are [11:57] safe. So we did not get any updates on their conditions or even where they are at this point, [12:02] if they're still in the hospital. Exactly. And also the questions of whether or not there [12:05] would be more charges coming. That is something we heard from the get-go that potentially there [12:09] are additional charges on top of the 16 counts that each family member is facing. All Archer would [12:16] say is that that investigation is ongoing. Let's take a look at how we got here. June 30th, [12:22] law enforcement executed a search warrant at the home on Omer Street, and that's where rescuers [12:28] discovered the 16 children in quote deplorable conditions living in a 12 by 12 room and the [12:34] children's ages ranged from 18 months to 18 years. Two of the children were flown to hospitals that same [12:41] day. That's when four family members, Gary Siders Sr, Gary Siders Jr, Christina Siders and Elizabeth [12:48] Siders were arrested and initially charged with child endangerment. The four family members have [12:54] all pleaded not guilty and a judge set their bond at $300,000 each. Now we also know Gary Siders Sr, [13:02] again taken to an Athens hospital. That happened on Tuesday. Doctors then recommended that he be [13:08] transferred to a larger hospital that could offer him the specialized care that he needed that was [13:14] available outside of the Vinton County area. A judge changed his bond then to a $300,000 [13:20] recognizance bond and the county prosecutor today said there was a reason why. He said if Siders Sr was [13:28] still under their care, it would be paid for by county taxpayers and the quote he said was it would [13:35] bankrupt the county if he was still under their care, which is why they had to switch it to that [13:39] recognizance bond. So again, he's being evaluated. They're also trying to see if he might be suffering [13:45] from perhaps a mental health issue that could affect his ability to stand trial. We want to go now [13:50] live to 10 TV reporter Carla Rogner, who joins us live outside of the courthouse. Carla, you were there [13:58] inside. We heard you asking questions and pressing for answers in this case. Tell us your big takeaways [14:04] from today. Yeah, well, I will tell you there are still so many questions that we have about this case [14:10] and what these children might have endured. This courtroom here was packed with news media from Columbus, [14:15] West Virginia, Cincinnati. There's been so much interest in this case from the internet, even from all across the [14:21] country. Now the prosecutor said his name is William Archer. He's the Vinton County Prosecutor. He wanted [14:25] to have this press conference to clear up a couple things about how this case will move forward. We [14:29] learned yesterday that he's brought in the Assistant Attorney General to serve on this case and then the [14:34] Highland County Prosecutor will also serve on this case as well. He says he knows both of them, [14:39] has worked with them before and he is bringing them in, but he will still be the main prosecutor here and [14:43] make the decisions on this case. There's also the big question of when they could face a grand jury [14:48] indictment. He says it's not like Franklin County and Vinton County here. They usually only have grand [14:53] jury once every other month. So this really shows you, you know, this is a small county here in Ohio [14:59] and this is a big case that they are dealing with right now. We also got to ask some questions about [15:04] the children, how they're doing, but we got the same answers that we've been getting since last week, [15:08] that they're safe and being cared for. It's still unclear if any of them are in the hospital, [15:13] their conditions. We didn't get to ask about their communication abilities, but that's a big [15:17] question that we've had as well. The new things that we've learned today on the defendants, we did [15:22] learn that Gary Sider Sr. He is out of jail. He has been released on a recognizance bond. He was taken [15:29] to a hospital in Athens and then taken to a larger hospital. We don't exactly know where, but they said [15:34] that there was some testing that was done that identified some larger issues that he needs treatment [15:39] for and the prosecutor explained the reason for the recognizance bond that they did grant [15:43] is that the treatment he needs is expensive. He wouldn't clarify on what that is. Of course, [15:48] you know that is medically protected by HIPAA there, but he did say that the care that they [15:53] would have to pay for if he was still in jail could bankrupt the county. So that is something that they [15:57] did take into consideration when they did issue that bond there. We also know that Elizabeth's attorney [16:02] has also asked for recognizance bond in both of those requests from their attorneys. They did write that [16:08] they don't have the ability to pay any bond at all, which is why they're asking for that [16:12] recognizance. So that would basically allow them to be released from jail with an ankle monitor and then [16:17] they wouldn't have to pay anything. It's basically a promise that they'll come back to court here. [16:21] I did also ask we heard from Elizabeth's attorney yesterday and he brought up something that a lot [16:25] of people have been asking is could Elizabeth have been a victim in this case? Now he said the [16:30] prosecutor today said that that is not the case that he believes. He said that Elizabeth's attorney said [16:36] that she's not a victim, but we did hear a little differently from her attorney yesterday. He said that it is [16:40] something that he is looking into as a possibility, but that she herself doesn't identify as a victim. [16:47] So that's a big question too. Another thing I asked is do the children have birth certificates? [16:51] And he kind of thought about that for a second and couldn't quite answer. So that's a big question [16:57] as well. We learned this morning that Elizabeth did give birth to those twins who didn't survive back [17:01] in 2022 at Riverside Hospital. So we know that she was she was there in the hospital. But yeah, [17:06] still so many questions back to you guys. Yeah, Carla, that was a pretty powerful moment when you asked [17:12] that question. We heard your voice very specifically asking if there are birth certificates for all of [17:17] the children. He paused for quite a bit of time. As you said, there's still so much Angela that we [17:24] don't know. Right. And so Carla, let me ask you about that significance behind those birth certificates, [17:28] behind the reason why you asked him. And I mean, is there a question about the ages of these [17:33] children given that there's so much uncertainty? I think there's just so much. You know, we don't [17:40] know how many children Elizabeth has allegedly given birth to. He wouldn't even confirm, go too far to say [17:46] that there's been testing to confirm that she's the mother of all the children. We do know her attorney [17:49] said that that is the case. But I think the bigger question is just, did anyone know that these [17:53] children existed? Did they? We know they didn't go to school. Did relatives know about them? Neighbors said [17:59] that they never seen kids in the house. If they were born in a hospital and had birth certificates, [18:03] and maybe there is some record of the kids, maybe they were receiving some sort of state assistance, [18:07] he wouldn't answer those questions too about whether they were getting money for the kids. [18:12] Carla Rogner, they're live for us outside of Vinton County, where we received an update from the [18:17] prosecutor there in this child endangerment case involving 16 kids discovered last week. [18:23] So Carla, we're going to keep you on standby here, but we want to remind everyone, of course, [18:27] this story has really rocked the Vinton County community, but really the entire state of Ohio, [18:31] since we learned about this a week ago. Monday, several people together held a prayer vigil for [18:36] the 16 children. That was just two days ago. The state now, again, assisting Vinton County in finding [18:42] foster care placement for the children. Now, you're looking at this outpouring of response from the [18:48] community members, also from South Central Ohio Job and Family Services. They are all working with [18:54] attorneys to establish some kind of trust to make sure those donations end up in the right hands. [19:00] The agency has issued a warning regarding an Amazon wish list that's out there circulating online, [19:06] advising people to instead donate through the official channels. So we continue to watch what's [19:13] happening there in Vinton County. And as Carla said, still so many questions left in this [19:19] investigation because there were so many questions the prosecutor could not answer today. Yes, yes. [19:25] So certainly a story that we are going to continue to follow. We do have team coverage of this and [19:29] again, 10 TV has been in Vinton County since the day these kids were discovered. We're going to [19:33] continue our live team coverage this afternoon starting on 10 TV news at four. We hope you will join us [19:39] then. And of course, we have extensive coverage on this case right now on 10 tv.com and right here on [19:45] our 10 TV streaming app. Download our app for free. Turn on push alerts for the latest information. We'll send that [19:50] straight to your phone.