California parents were arrested after their three kids were found living in a makeshift plywood hut

This handout photograph obtained March 1, 2018 courtesy of the San Bernardino County Sheriff&#039;s Department, Morongo Basin Station, shows the area in Joshua Tree, California where a couple were

(Image credit: AFP PHOTO/HO/San Bernardino County Sheriff's Department, Morongo Basin Station/Getty Images)

published 3 March 2018

A couple from Joshua Tree, California, were arrested Thursday on suspicion of willful cruelty to their children after police discovered three children living in a makeshift plywood hut without electricity or running water.

The parents, Daniel Panico and Mona Kirk, live nearby in a camper trailer on a property strewn with trash and feces and also inhabited by 30 cats. The children, ages 14, 13, and 11, said they have lived in the hut for four years but were not held captive. They were placed in foster care and reportedly do not appear malnourished.

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

https://cdn.mos.cms.futurecdn.net/flexiimages/jacafc5zvs1692883516.jpg

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

Explore More

Bonnie Kristian was a deputy editor and acting editor-in-chief of TheWeek.com. She is a columnist at Christianity Today and author of Untrustworthy: The Knowledge Crisis Breaking Our Brains, Polluting Our Politics, and Corrupting Christian Community (forthcoming 2022) and A Flexible Faith: Rethinking What It Means to Follow Jesus Today (2018). Her writing has also appeared at Time Magazine, CNN, USA Today, Newsweek, the Los Angeles Times, and The American Conservative, among other outlets.

Subscribe to The Week

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters

Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox