Ten children have been rescued from their California home after allegedly being tortured and forced by their parents to live in “squalor” for a long period of time, according to police.
Despite the allegations, the Fairfield mother says her husband is an “amazing person” — and that she is an “amazing mother.”
Here are five things to know about the case.
1. Conditions Discovered After Child Reported Missing
On March 31, Fairfield police responded to reports of a missing 12-year-old. After locating the child and returning the kid home, officers searched the family home out of fear for the child’s safety, according to a police news release.
During the search, officers found nine other children, ranging in age from 4 months to 11 years old, living in what police described as “squalor and unsafe conditions,” the news release alleges.
Their mother, Ina Rogers, 30, was arrested and booked into Solano County Jail for child neglect on March 31, according to the news release.
Following an investigation, the children’s father, Jonathan Allen, 29, was arrested for child abuse on May 11, according to online records.
2. Floor Was Littered with Feces, Garbage and Rotten Food: Police
Fairfield Police Lt. Greg Hurlbut said during a press conference on Monday that feces, garbage and rotten food littered the floor of the home, according to NBC Bay Area.
The children were allegedly forced to sleep on cots in one bedroom of the two-story, four-bedroom home, police said.
Although the children did not need medical treatment after being rescued, the couple’s eight oldest children told investigators they had allegedly been abused for several years, according to CBS News.
The children were taken into protective custody by child services, according to the news release.
3. Alleged ‘Long and Continuous History’ of ‘Sadistic’ Abuse
Sharon Henry, chief deputy district attorney for Solano County, said at a news conference that the alleged abuse was done with a “sadistic purpose,” according to the The Washington Post.
The investigation following Rogers’ arrest in March uncovered “a long and continuous history of severe physical and emotional abuse of the children,” police alleged Monday, NBC Bay Area reported.
“Based upon what the children stated in their interviews, we believe torture occurred in this house,” Henry said, the station reported.
4. Mom Denies Charges, Calling Accusations ‘Ludicrous’
Rogers strenuously denied the accusations, describing them as “ludicrous,” according to NBC Bay Area.
“There’s no broken bones, there is no major scars, nothing,” Rogers said when speaking to reporters in front of her house on Monday. “My kids get bumped and bruised and scratched because they’re kids but that’s it.”
Rogers said all the children slept on cots by their own choice, the station reported.
She added that her oldest child ran away after she took away his tablet as a punishment, and that their home was messy due to their frantic search for him.
“Fear set in…that my son was missing,” she said, according to CBS. “So I ripped up my whole house … tore everything out of the closet, lifted up the beds.”
Rogers said she and her husband are great parents.
“My husband has a lot of tattoos. He looks like a scary individual, and that’s why people are so quick to judge him,” she said, according to the The Washington Post. “But my husband is an amazing person. I am an amazing mother.”
5. Couple Faces Multiple Charges
Allen was charged with seven counts of felony torture and nine counts of felony child abuse, according to jail records, while Rogers faces child neglect charges.
The Washington Post reported that Allen pleaded not guilty in court on Monday. He is being held for over $5 million bail.
Rogers was released after posting $10,000 bail on April 9.
Attorney information for the couple was unavailable Tuesday. It is unclear whether Rogers has entered a plea.
