OMAHA - Two boys were caged "like animals" inside their northwest Omaha home, according to a prosecutor.
The boys, ages 2 and 4, were locked in a bedroom in their parents' mobile home and left to fend for themselves while their parents worked through the day, Douglas County Attorney Don Kleine said.World-Herald News ServicOn Wednesday, a 9-year-old child of Martha Navarro, 33, and Venancio Vazquez, 37, reported to school officials that her two brothers were locked in a room and left alone all day.
Omaha police responded to the mobile home near 126th Street and West Maple Road and found the boys, ages 2 and 4, naked and locked inside the room "with no food or water," according to a prosecutor's report.
"The room smelled of urine and had feces on the floor," the report said.
The 9-year-old said her parents locked the boys in the room - with a chain and padlock - when they left for work and the 9-year-old went to school. This had been happening throughout the school year, police say.
The 9-year-old said she cared for the boys when she arrived home but had "no idea what to do if there was an emergency." The home had no phone, police say.
Navarro and Vazquez was each charged with three counts of child abuse. The couple were in the Douglas County Jail and unavailable for comment. They each would have to post $3,000 cash to get out of jail, under the bail set by Douglas County Judge Jeff Marcuzzo.
Prosecutors say the couple has "an extensive history" with Child Protective Services.
Navarro was convicted of misdemeanor child neglect for leaving the two boys home alone in an apartment in May 2013. The youngest son, then a baby, had been placed on a bed with pillows surrounding him to keep him from falling off the bed. His then-2-year-old brother was found alone and watching television.
Navarro didn't return for hours.
Under those 2013 misdemeanor neglect convictions, Judge Lawrence Barrett fined Navarro $100 plus $84 in court costs.
If convicted in this case, Navarro and Vazquez would face up to five years in prison on each charge.
The couple's children have been placed in protective custody, prosecutors say.