State police investigators expected to arrest more members of an alleged pedophile group accused of sexually abusing at least 14 children ranging in age from 16 months to 12 years.
Most of the alleged assaults took place in a foul-smelling house that was so dirty with food, feces and cockroaches that investigators had to wear extra protective clothing to search for evidence, Michigan State Police Lt. Brit Weber said.
Five people living at the house were arrested Wednesday on 25 counts of criminal sexual conduct in the first degree, Weber said. Police expect to receive warrants Thursday to arrest six more suspects. Another member of the alleged group has been in custody since April on sexual abuse charges.
Most of the abuse is alleged to have occurred at the home, located southwest of Detroit, between July 1996 and January 1997. Some of the victims are children of the suspects. Others are neighborhood children who were befriended by residents of the house, police said.
Police have been investigating the group since early April when the mother of a young girl told police she was molested. Weber said the suspects know each other but police do not consider them an organized ring of child abusers.
Conviction on a first-degree criminal sexual misconduct charge carries a mandatory sentence of life in prison.
Five of the children involved in the case have been taken into protective custody. Police said three dogs living at the house may have also been sexually abused by several of the suspects. Neighborhood MapFor more information about the Interactive Animal Cruelty Maps, see the map notes.
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