Parents won’t face charges for children found in ‘cages’

A California couple who’s two children were found to be living in stackable cribs bolted to their floor will not face child endangerment charges, prosecutors said.

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"There is no evidence that the children were being cared for inappropriately," Modoc County District Attorney Sam Kyllo told the Record Searchlight. "As I said before, these are cribs, not cages -- they're just stackable cribs."

Ramon Zendejas, 25, and his girlfriend, Mercadies Williams, also 25, were arrested last week after deputies found the boys, both under 2-years-old, in what the Sheriff’s Office described as cribs modified to be “like dog crates.”

Deputies found weapons and a small amount of drugs but not enough evidence that manufacturing was taking place.

Sheriff Tex Dowdy called the cribs “heinous” but agreed with Kyllo’s decision.

"Our threshold, as far as booking somebody on a specific charge, is much different than the DA's threshold in prosecuting," Dowdy told the Record Searchlight. "This isn't one against the other. It's just, he felt, based on the information he received in the police report, it wasn't sufficient for him to pursue charges on that particular charge."

The couple are still facing weapons charges.

Zendejas still faces charges of being a felon in possession of a firearm and drug possession, according to the Record Searchlight. Williams faces misdemeanor charges because she was not allowed to have a firearm.

The Associated Press contributed to this report.

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