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Authorities say children tied to bed in Texas home Carter said the home was not regis-
tered as a foster home or day care.
DAYTON, Texas (AP) — The eight ing to determine how the children Sgt. Doug O’Quinn said. Neighbor Wayne Hardin said he
children confined in a small, dark are related and why they were never saw the young children and
bedroom with a piece of plywood there. Marsh did not have a working had no idea so many people were
over the window included two phone number listed. living in the house. Hardin said
2-year-olds tied to a bed and a “Our primary concern was to Records list his mother, Tanda he’d been told the people next door
5-year-old girl “in a restraint on a make sure that the children were Marsh-Smith, as an owner of the had a big family and routinely saw
filthy mattress,” the child welfare stable and safe,” Carter said. All home. She was investigated in eight or more cars parked outside.
worker who discovered them said have been placed in foster care. 2009, when authorities received a
in a court document. report that she punched one of the “I was shocked,” said Hardin, who
The 5-year-old was legally blind “Adults in the home children in the stomach because in the past had called police about
and “appeared to be in a daze,” he would not eat and threatened to loud music blaring from the house.
the worker said. The girl was told investigators they hit him more, the court document “We didn’t have a clue.”
among 11 children removed from “tie the children up for said. Marsh-Smith could not be
the 1,700-square-foot home where reached for comment.
authorities said more than 20 safety” The home had “No Trespassing”
people lived in Dayton, about 40 and “Private Property” signs in the Rattlesnake, cobras and an alligator found in
miles northeast of Houston. The front windows and a skateboard man’s apartment
10 adults in the home may have in- No one has been charged in the hanging from a front window sill
cluded a sex offender who listed it case, but a criminal investigation Tuesday. A few cars and pickup
as his address on the state registry. is in progress, police said. trucks were parked out front. Florida wildlife recently of fish and wildlife. The
Liberty County District Attorney officers found a veritable commission estimates
The children ranged in age from Behind the garage, three other deadly reptile exhibit that the state has also
5 months to 11 years. Two of the Mike Little said his office would buildings were in the backyard inside one man’s Boca become home to nearly
youngest had what authorities present a case to a grand jury next — two small cabins with curtain- Raton apartment: A 300 non-native species.
feared was pneumonia and were month, but he declined to discuss covered windows and the third red-spitting cobra, a The same reason that so
taken to a hospital, the court docu- possible suspects or charges. resembling an A-frame shed. The puff adder, a uracoan many people are drawn
ment said. Another child had a A man and three women who left yard smelled of animal feces. rattlesnake, two false to the Sunshine State is
black eye and a missing tooth. the house Tuesday refused to talk cobras and even a small what makes the need for
The children in the bedroom had to media outside. Relatives reached Other properties in the subdivision alligator. proper wildlife regula-
were mostly well-kept. Dayton has
been bound around the chest and by The Associated Press declined about 7,200 residents, and the When you read the tions essential: “Florida’s
tied to the bed, leaving them only to comment or didn’t respond to house sat in a largely rural area detailed descriptions of subtropical climate is
1 to 2 feet for movement, the docu- phone messages. with farm and ranch land where each of these reptiles, ideal for many foreign
ment said. Adults in the home told Mark E. Marsh III, who was con- horses and goats graze across the it’s hard to imagine how species to survive. If
investigators they “tie the children victed in Michigan 15 years ago street. anyone would willingly authorities, telling them that he these species escape or
up for safety” at night and during of criminal sexual conduct with a live with these deadly creatures. was in the process of obtaining are released, they can easily be-
daytime naps, but one of the chil- 15-year-old girl, listed the home as Along with the children, two teen- But that was exactly what Tyler No- permits for all of the reptiles. The come established here,” the site
dren said he typically was kept in his residence on Texas’ online sex age runaways with a stolen car lan was doing until he was caught Florida Fish and Wildlife Conser- notes.
the room for up to three days, it offender registry. were at the home, authorities said. keeping them without a permit. vation Commission first became And to that end, the state does have
said. The boys, both 16, admitted fleeing
Marsh served three years in Texas from foster homes, smoking mari- Nolan was cited for several health aware of the situation when they some unusual wildlife permits, in-
Child Protective Services spokes- prison for failing to register as a sex juana and driving a car they knew and safety violations. The alligator received a tip that Nolan was hous- clude those for Florida black bears
woman Gwen Carter said Tuesday offender, a Texas Department of was stolen, authorities said. was released back into the wild ing the reptiles without proper and Florida panthers. Thankfully,
that three children who were 5 Criminal Justice spokesman said. while the snakes were turned over authority. the reptiles were all reportedly
or older had not been enrolled in Released in May, he moved to Day- One of the teens said “he heard to a professional facility capable of As the group’s website notes, in good condition and were being
school. A month after the raid on ton, where there was no restriction from his older brother that this caring for them. Florida is already home to ap- kept in “secure enclosures,” ac-
the house, authorities are still try- on his living with children, police home ‘was fun,’” investigators said Nolan reportedly cooperated with proximately 1,300 native species cording to the Sun-Sentinel.
in the court document.
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