COLUMBUS, Ohio — A rural Ohio county is being pushed to its financial limits after 16 children were discovered living in deplorable conditions, forcing local officials to seek outside help both for prosecuting the accused family members and for providing care to the children.
Vinton County, the smallest and one of the poorest counties in Ohio, is stretched thin handling the case of the Siders family. The county covers 415 square miles of isolated Appalachian terrain and has just one traffic light and a single grocery store — serving roughly 12,600 residents with the smallest budget of any of Ohio’s 88 counties.
State officials have called the situation “an unprecedented child welfare crisis” for the county.
On Tuesday, 73-year-old Gary Siders Sr. was released from jail after a judge adjusted his bond so he no longer had to pay upfront. He was then transferred out of the county for medical treatment.
Vinton County Prosecutor William Archer Jr. explained that Siders had fallen while in jail and it became clear he was dealing with a serious health issue requiring specialized care — care that would have been billed to the county if he remained in the regional jail.
“Based on the information the county was provided, his medical care could potentially bankrupt Vinton County,” Archer told reporters Wednesday. “We were not going to put that burden also on our local taxpayers.”
Vinton County Common Pleas Judge Laina Fetherolf Rogers specified in her order that if Siders recovers enough to leave the hospital, the GPS monitoring device he’ll be required to wear will also be covered by the state.
Siders Sr. faces a felony child endangerment charge. Three other family members are also charged: his 67-year-old wife Christina Siders; their 36-year-old son Gary Siders Jr.; and Gary Jr.’s 33-year-old wife Elizabeth Siders, who is the children’s mother. All four have entered not guilty pleas, and some of their defense attorneys have urged the public not to jump to conclusions before all the facts come out.
To ease the burden on the prosecution, the judge approved Archer’s request to bring in three special prosecutors — Ohio Attorney General Andy Wilson, Assistant Attorney General Kara Keating, and Highland County Prosecutor Anneka Collins, who specializes in child abuse cases — all working without additional pay, meaning their own offices will absorb the costs.
The Vinton County Sheriff has also asked for assistance from the state Bureau of Criminal Investigation.
Mike Davis, the prosecutor for neighboring Pike County — another financially struggling southern Ohio county — said the dilemma is common for small counties.
“A lot of small counties like us, we’re in the same boat as Vinton,” Davis said. “If a person has a medical issue, do we pay the medical bills and keep them in jail and blow our budget, or do we let them out and risk something happening that’s worse?”
Davis, who dealt with a major case of his own when Pike County handled the 2016 Rhoden family murders, said large criminal cases ripple through every corner of a small county’s government — shifting workloads among offices that may have just one or two employees, while also requiring larger spaces and reliable internet access for outside investigators and media.
“Money’s green and it’s absolute. You either have it or you don’t,” Davis said.
Archer said officials carefully evaluated the decision to release Siders Sr. and determined it posed no risk to the public, given his health condition and the fact that the alleged crimes involved only family members.
When the 16 children were removed from the home, the number of children in temporary county custody instantly more than doubled. On Monday, a state legislative panel is expected to vote on a $1 million emergency funding request from the Ohio Department of Children and Youth to help Vinton County manage what the agency described as an “emergent and developing child protection crisis.”
The state estimates placement costs for the siblings will run between $150 and $250 per child each day — adding up to roughly $850,000 annually, which is more than three times what Vinton County’s levy generates for combined children’s and senior services.
The funding would also help cover additional costs such as court expenses and police overtime connected to the case.
The children ranged in age from 18 months to 18 years old. Some were described as “feral” and unable to speak. Authorities allege the children had been confined to a room approximately 12 feet by 12 feet for several years. Two of the children required emergency hospital transport by air.
Archer said this week that all the children are currently “safe and being cared for,” though he offered no further details.
Court records show the eldest child was born in May 2008, about two months after Gary Siders Jr. — then 18 years old — and Elizabeth, who was 15 at the time, crossed into West Virginia to marry at the Mason County Courthouse. Her parents had given their consent. Records indicate she has been pregnant most years since, including several sets of twins.
