A naked Pennsylvania boy bravely escaped from a home where he spent most of his time in a feces-covered room transformed into a makeshift prison cell as his three guardians have been arrested over the disturbing treatment.
The unclothed, unidentified 5-year-old boy was found wandering around in the middle of the street near his Swatara Township neighborhood just before 7:30 a.m. on Friday, the Pennsylvania State Police reported.
The concerned good Samaritans stopped the child, who had only a green, urine-stained blanket, and remained with the boy until first responders took him to a local hospital for a medical evaluation, WGAL reported.
Police did not reveal how the boy busted free from the home.
Officers pinpointed that the child came from a rundown home a few blocks away from where he was discovered as they uncovered a nightmarish hell hole.
The unsuspecting officers reported finding hoarder conditions inside the residence “with trash throughout, hundreds of flies observed and limited room for maneuvering the house because of the influx of clutter,” according to the police report.
One bedroom, identified as the boy’s, had a baby gate attached to the door. There were also multiple zip ties, duct tape and wooden boards drilled from the outside of the door frame to prevent the boy from escaping the room, police said.
Feces had been smeared across the walls and windows, and a destroyed bed was covered in food.
Trash littered the floor of the quarters along with various children’s toys.
Officers learned that the boy spent about 90 percent of his time locked inside the boarded-up room, where he was fed granola bars, cereal, juice, milk and water through the slots of the baby gates, WGAL reported.
The three adults inside, identified as Tucker Heagy, 20, Jade Shuey, 21, and Stephanie Schaffner, 42, allegedly only bathed the boy once a week, sometimes extending the cleanings to more than a week.
The trio was identified as the boy’s guardians, but an exact relationship was not revealed, the outlet reported.
Shuey told police that the boy could spend up to three days inside the room without being let out, forcing the boy to relieve himself inside the confines of the cell and spreading the excrement around the walls.
For the boy to be released from the room, the adults would have to cut five to 10 zip ties off the gates and then they would be put back into place with new ties and duct tape each time, Heagy confessed, according to the outlet.
The fasteners were purchased in bulk by the adults from a local store because of how much the house went through them.
The ghastly conditions inside the home, including the unsanitary state throughout the house, led town code enforcement to condemn the home, the outlet reported.
Heagy, Shuey, and Schaffner were all arrested and charged with one count of endangering welfare of the children, police said.
