BERKELEY COUNTY, S.C. (WSAV) – Two people have been arrested after deputies found seven children living in filthy conditions.
On Wednesday, Berkeley County Sheriff’s deputies responded to a home on Patriot Lane in Summerville in reference to a report of children locked inside of a room.
Diana Salbon, 26, the mother of five of the children, was inside with an infant and a 2 year old and gave deputies permission to search the home. Deputies went upstairs, where they made the disturbing discovery.
Deputies opened one door and found an extremely cluttered bedroom with multiple small animals in cages inside. According to an incident report, the smell inside was “horrific”. WCBD reports that the room also had animal fecal matter, dirty diapers and trash inside.
Salbon said that her five children shared the bedroom and that she and the children’s father, 22-year-old Erick Perez-Viera, slept in the room next door.
Deputies then discovered that all other bedrooms in the home had deadbolts on the outside of the doors, which had no door handles. Every room in the home had cameras in them, including areas where the children slept and dressed.
The incident report states that two other children, belonging to another woman, also lived in the home in a separate bedroom. The mother of these two children is not facing charges at this time.
The Department of Social Services was called and the children were placed in protective custody. Both Salbon and Perez-Viera were arrested on scene and are charged with five counts of unlawful conduct towards a child.
The discovery was made Wednesday morning by a property manager doing a home inspection. In an interview with law enforcement, the property manager said he discovered a child locked in the upstairs room who said to him, “let me out, I am hungry.” He asked Salbon to let him out, to which she replied “no.”
The property manager also said he also heard screams from upstairs while he was in the home.
