MILWAUKEE — A husband and wife in Wisconsin have been arrested after allegedly leaving their six children, including a two-month-old infant, locked inside a storage unit with only a bucket to use as a restroom.
Charles A. Dupriest, 33, and Azyia C. Zielinski, 26, were taken into custody earlier this week and charged with six counts of child neglect each. Dupriest also faces a charge of being a felon in possession of a firearm.
According to the criminal complaint, Milwaukee police responded around 1:33 a.m. Tuesday to a report of a crying child inside a locked storage unit at Storsafe on the 5500 block of North 27th Street. Fire department personnel cut the padlock to gain entry and found six children aged 9, 7, 5, 3, 2, and 2 months. A bucket containing urine was in the middle of the room, and the only light came through the crack of the garage-style door.
The 9-year-old told detectives he was responsible for caring for his five younger siblings while the parents were away, sometimes feeding the infant and attending to the others’ needs. The children reported being hungry, with no way to contact their parents or anyone else in an emergency. Police described the stench inside the unit as “so putrid they could not remain inside even with the garage door open.”
Facility staff recalled seeing the children being dropped off in May and hearing a male voice inside the unit instructing them to be quiet.
Officers later found Dupriest and Zielinski sleeping in a Ford Expedition in the lot, while all six children remained in the storage unit. The parents said the family was “homeless” but admitted the children could have stayed with other relatives.
In a forensic interview, the 5-year-old girl said she felt sad and angry while locked in the unit and had to use a bucket to relieve herself. She also noted that the family dog was allowed to sleep in the car while the children remained in the unit. She said her father carried a firearm and disciplined her and her siblings with physical punishment.
Dupriest and Zielinski are being held in the Milwaukee County Jail on bonds of $10,500 and $10,000, respectively. Court dates have not been announced.
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