MILWAUKEE, Wis. – Two parents accused of leaving their six children locked in a Milwaukee storage unit while they slept in a car with the family dog now face multiple child neglect charges.
According to the criminal complaint obtained by WTMJ, a call for a crying baby inside the Storsafe unit near North 27th Street and West Silver Spring Drive around 1:33 a.m. Tuesday, September 16, alerted police to the situation.
After Milwaukee firefighters cut the padlock, officers found six children between the ages of two-months and nine-years-old, living in “putrid” conditions, with a bucket for the children to go to the bathroom in, and no lights, electricity or running water. The complaint states the unit was air conditioned to be kept at 76 degrees during the summertime.
Later, officers found their parents, 33-year-old Charles Dupriest and 26-year-old Azyia Zielinski, asleep in a car with the family dog. A gun was also recovered inside the car.
Zielinski admitted to officers the children had been living in the unit for one and a half months. The two also noted that while they were homeless, the children “could have stayed with family members instead of the storage unit”.
The nine-year-old told police he was responsible for caring his five younger siblings when his parents were away or drinking.
During a separate interview with police, a Storsafe employee said he had overheard a man inside Unit B58 say “Sit down and be quiet.” The employee also found a burnt marijuana blunt on a keypad in the building the unit was located in, but couldn’t prove it belonged to either Dupriest or Zielinski.
Both parents now face multiple child neglect charges, with Dupriest also facing a firearm charge. Each made an initial court apperance Friday, September 19. The complaint also notes Dupriest was convicted of third degree sexual assault in Ozaukee County back in 2010.
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