MODOC COUNTY, Calif. — The Modoc County District Attorney announced Tuesday that his office will not file child endangerment charges against the parents of two boys found inside cages bolted to a bedroom wall, ABC affiliate KRCR reports.
Authorities arrested 25-year-old Ramon Zendejas and his girlfriend, 25-year-old Mercadies Williams on Friday after deputies found their young boys in makeshift cages. D.A. Sam Kyllo, however, did not see it that way.
"There's no kids in cages and it's not a child endangerment case. They're cribs, you can buy them on Amazon," Kyllo told KRCR.
According to Modoc County Sheriff Tex Dowdy, deputies went to the house on Tuesday, following up on a search warrant for illegal weapons. It was then that they found the two boys, both less than 2-years-old, locked inside cribs that were stacked one on top of the other and bolted to the wall “like dog crates,” a press release from the sheriff’s office stated.
Also in the home, deputies say they found three guns, ammunition, suspected methamphetamines, and evidence of a butane honey oil lab.
Zendejas was booked into county jail on complaints of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and ammunition, possession of a controlled substance, manufacturing a controlled substance, possession of drug paraphernalia, and child endangerment.
Williams was booked on complaints of being a prohibited person in possession of a firearm and ammunition and child endangerment.
According to reporting by KRCR, in addition to not seeking charges for child endangerment, the D.A.’s office will also not seek charges for the butane honey oil lab. Both will face misdemeanor charges for possession of meth.
No word on if the pair will face any charges for the weapons and ammo.
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