An Iowa couple has been arrested after their disabled 4-year-old child was found wandering around outside alone and "covered in filth," authorities said.
The Fremont County Sheriff's Office responded at around 8:53 a.m. Thursday to a report of a small child alone near the roadway on the 1700 block of Washington Street in Hamburg. Deputies arrived to find the 4-year-old child "covered in filth and a mixture of both human and animal feces outside the residence."
Deputies found the home of the child, who has developmental disabilities, and located another child inside.
Both children were taken to a local hospital for evaluation.
Dustin Carl Lee Perry, 26, and Lindsey Barbara Marie Hamilton, 26, both of Shenandoah, allegedly left both children in the care of relatives, with instructions to keep the 4-year-old in a "makeshift cage."
Deputies found the cage in the home, constructed from a play pen with a baby gate tied to the top with zip ties to form a roof. According to deputies, the child was able to escape the contraption and left the house without waking the sleeping occupants.
A second homemade cage was found at a Shenandoah home, where the child was allegedly kept inside a walk-in closet.
"Several children were removed from the home" by the Iowa Department of Health and Human Services, Sheriff Kevin Aistrope said in a statement Thursday night.
Perry and Hamilton were arrested and charged with felony neglect or abandonment of a dependent person, and child endangerment, an aggravated misdemeanor. More charges are still pending in the case, the sheriff's office said.
Both Perry and Hamilton are being held at the Fremont County Jail without bond pending an initial court appearance.
--with reporting by TMX
