Particle.news
Download on the App Store

Fox Lake Parents Charged After Children and Pets Found in Filthy Basement as Father Faces Child Porn Counts

Court rulings left the father in jail pending a hearing, the mother on pretrial release.

Overview

  • Detectives acted on a tip from a cloud storage platform and executed an Aug. 14 search at a Woodland Avenue home in Fox Lake.
  • Investigators found a family living in the basement, with three children under 3 forced to sleep on concrete covered in urine and animal feces, conditions that prevented use of electronic detection canines.
  • Several malnourished animals — iguanas, a bearded dragon, a turtle and two dogs — were recovered from the basement by Lake County Animal Control.
  • Logan J. Jentink, 29, was charged with three counts of child endangerment, five counts of cruel treatment of an animal, and seven counts of possessing child pornography added after a phone analysis; Sandra J. Zaluski, 23, faces three child endangerment counts and five animal-cruelty counts.
  • DCFS placed the children with another guardian, and as of Friday authorities said Jentink remains in Lake County Jail pending a hearing while Zaluski was released with pretrial conditions.