Two sadistic Pennsylvania parents are accused of locking their five kids inside a ‘dungeon’ while subjecting the children to severe punishment.
James Russell Kahl, aged 65, and his wife Carly Kahl, aged 41, were arrested on Wednesday following the rescue of children from a disturbing situation in their Redstone Township home.
According to a criminal complaint sourced from WPXI, Russell had allegedly coerced Carly into using a Taser on one of the kids within the past fortnight.
“There is absolutely no justification for using a stun gun, which is a non-lethal device, on a child,” stated Fayette County District Attorney Mike Aubele.
Also in the home police uncovered a stun gun, a replica pistol and some drugs while conducting a search warrant.
The children were trapped in a filthy room with sealed windows, where they were given minimal food and clothing, without having any beds.
In addition to the three deadbolt locks on the outside of the door, police said there was no door handle that would allow them to escape.
‘Well it appears that these children were basically held in captivity in this room,’ Aubele told reporters on Wednesday.
There was also feces covering the walls and insects crawling over the floor coverings.
Carly Kahl have been taken into custody for allegedly locking their five children in a room
James Russell Kahl told Carly to pull a Taser on one of the children within the last two weeks
‘This room functioned as a dungeon, with video cameras hardwired to the father’s room,’ the complaint states.
Authorities now say James neglected his children – who were between the ages of five and 14 – as he smoked marijuana all day.
‘We have evidence that there were some cameras that were hardwired to another room where these children were being observed,’ he continued.
The district attorney went on to thank the ‘brave family member’ who reported the ‘deplorable conditions’ to the state’s ChildLine system.
“We cannot have law enforcement in every home all the time; it is critical that the community steps up and considers the welfare of these children,” he emphasized.
The case came to light when Fayette County Children and Youth Services were alerted, prompting Pennsylvania State Police to assist with the investigation on August 8.
That is when they first saw the squalor the children were living in inside the two-story suburban house.
‘It’s sickening – that’s the only word that I can use to describe what we saw and what those children went through,’ Pennsylvania State Trooper Ally Wilson told WTAE.
When troopers then asked about the locks, they said James told them he would ‘not be removing the locks from the bedroom door for any reason.’
Police were first alerted to the deplorable conditions at the house when they were called on to assist Fayette County Children and Youth Services with an investigation
Police say the parents would sequester the kids to a bedroom with boarded-up windows, feces covering the walls, fleas, a limited amount of food and clothing and no beds
The children are now safely in the custody of Children and Youth Services.
Meanwhile, their parents are facing endangering the welfare of children, aggravated assault, reckless endangerment, use of an incapacitation device and drug charges.
Bail has been denied for both of the parents, who are being held at the county jail, according to court documents obtained by Daily Mail.
Those documents also show that James Russell has had a series of run-ins with the law in the past, including a harassment charge he pleaded guilty to in 2006.
That same year, he was also arrested for driving under the influence, and in 2012 he was charged with a probation violation.
Trooper Wilson said she now hopes ‘that these parents go to jail and they answer for what they’ve done.’
