Five children ‘held captive in locked dungeon by parents watching with cameras’

The parents of five children have been busted after allegedly locking them in a dungeon-style room and watching them with cameras to prevent them from escaping.

James Russell, 65, and Carly Kahl, 41, are accused of holding their kids aged five to 14 captive in ‘deplorable conditions’ at their home in Redstone Township, Pennsylvania.

State police began investigating the situation in early August and found the home with boarded up windows, feces-covered walls, fleas, very little food and clothing and no beds.

The children’s bedroom was locked from the outside with three deadbolts and had no door handle.

‘This room functioned as a dungeon with video cameras hardwired to the father’s room,’ stated Pennsylvania State Police.

Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele said that ‘it appears that these children were basically held in captivity in this room’.

Investigators also recovered a stun gun, a replica pistol, a CCTV camera, drugs and drug paraphernalia from the residence.

Russell made Kahl use a Taser to punish one of the children, states a criminal complaint based on interviews with the kids.

‘There’s no reason to be using a device like a stun gun, which is less lethal, not non-lethal, against a child,’ said Aubele.

All the children were rescued from the home and placed under the care of Fayette County Children and Youth Services.

Trooper Ally Wilson called the scene ‘sickening’.

‘It’s the only word I can use to describe what we saw and what those children went through,’ Wilson told WPXI.

A ‘brave family member’ first called a tip in to the ChildLine, Aubele said.

The parents have been charged with aggravated assault, endangering welfare of children, reckless endangerment, using an incapacitation device and weapons offenses.

‘I’m hoping that these parents go to jail,’ Trooper Wilson said, ‘And they answer for what they’ve done.’

Redstone Township is about 45 miles south of Pittsburgh.

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