Authorities report that two sober parents from Milwaukee locked six children, including an infant just two months old, inside a storage unit.
Charles Duprist, 33, and his wife, Asia Zielinski, 26, are facing child neglect charges after bystanders noticed distressing noises from a padlocked unit, as reported by Witi-TV.
The troubling situation came to light around 1:30 PM on Tuesday when police received a 911 call. Emergency responders cut through the padlock and discovered the children in deplorable conditions.
After being freed from the unit, one of the older children reportedly said, “it shouldn’t be loud,” indicating the chaos they had endured.
A five-year-old girl shared a particularly troubling account with police. She mentioned attempting to open the door but could not get it to budge. According to court documents, she had to use a bucket for sanitation.
She expressed concern about their family dog, which had been left to sleep in the car while she and her siblings were confined in the unit. The child mentioned that her father had told them he had been asleep while they were still awake.
The parents were later located nearby, napping in an SUV with their dog.
As outlined in the police report, Duprist and Zielinski stated that their family had been evicted from a local homeless shelter about a month prior but suggested they may have left the children with relatives. They also acknowledged that the children had been confined to the storage unit at least three times a week, relying on food stamps and monthly Social Security payments.
Additionally, the children informed officers that their father possessed a firearm and had inflicted other distressing situations upon them.
The couple was arrested last week, with Zielinski facing six counts of child neglect and Duprist charged with the same, along with criminal possession of a weapon.
Currently, they are being held at the Milwaukee County Jail, with bail set at $10,500 for Zielinski and $10,000 for Duprist.
