Couple allegedly locked up girls and played video games
A married couple in Orange County who spent their days in an unsanitary mobile home playing World of Warcraft are now facing child abuse charges after two girls in their care were found malnourished and locked in the home, prosecutors said Friday.
Lester Louis Huffmire and his wife, Petra Huffmire, both 41, have been charged with two felony counts of child abuse and two misdemeanor counts of false imprisonment, according to a statement from the Orange County district attorney’s office.
If convicted, prosecutors said the pair could each face up to seven years in prison.
Lester Huffmire is being held on $100,000 bail, and prosecutors have asked the same bail amount be set for Petra Huffmire, when the two were arraigned Friday, according to the statement.
The pair lived in Anaheim with the two girls, ages 10 and 5, who were related to them, but prosecutors did not describe how they were related.
Prosecutors said that from May 2010 to earlier this month, the Huffmires allegedly allowed the home to become uninhabitable, with kitchen appliances covered in mold and cobwebs and stacks of trash, debris, mold and feces scattered throughout the home.
The toilets, prosecutors said, were inoperable.
Prosecutors said that the girls couldn’t leave the home for any reason, including school.
On May 20, a neighbor called Anaheim police and an officer visited the home for a welfare check, finding the malnourished girls with dirt crusted on their feet, matted hair and teeth damaged beyond repair.
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