Parents arrested after 4-year-old boy allegedly kept in ‘makeshift cage’

HAMBURG, Iowa (WOWT/Gray News) - Two parents from Iowa are in jail after deputies say they left their children with relatives, allegedly telling them to keep their 4-year-old son in “a makeshift cage.”

The parents of a 4-year-old boy with developmental disabilities were arrested after the child was found alone Thursday morning outside a home in Hamburg. Investigators discovered signs the boy and another child had been caged inside cribs, WOWT reports.

Dustin Carl Lee Perry and Lindsey Barbara Marie Hamilton, both 26, were booked on charges of neglect or abandonment of a dependent and child endangerment. The former charge is a Class C felony in Iowa, and the latter is an aggravated misdemeanor.

The parents remain in jail without bond, as they await their first appearance before a judge.

More charges are expected in the case, according to a news release from the Fremont County Sheriff’s Office.

Deputies were first alerted just before 9 a.m. Thursday when a 4-year-old boy was found covered in filth and human and animal feces outside a home in Hamburg. Another child was found inside the home, and both children were taken to the hospital for evaluation.

Hours later, deputies arrested the children’s parents.

During the course of their investigation, deputies determined the 4-year-old had managed to free himself from “a makeshift cage” constructed from a portable crib with a baby gate zip-tied to the top of it. He left the home without waking anyone up.

Deputies say the parents had left the two children in the care of relatives, allegedly telling them to keep the 4-year-old in the “pack and play” cage, according to the release. A second homemade cage was found in a walk-in closet at the parents’ home in Shenandoah.

The Iowa Department of Health and Human Services removed several children from the home in Hamburg, according to the release.

Hamburg Rescue and the Shenandoah Police Department also assisted the sheriff’s office and DHS with the case.

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