A Slippery Rock Township couple facing several child endangerment charges and dozens of animal neglect charges was accepted into the Accelerated Rehabilitative Disposition program Monday, July 20, in Butler County Common Pleas Court.

Kenneth William Hess, 55, and Nicole Marie Hess, 41, were accepted into the ARD program in which they will serve 24 months of probation, cooperate with Children & Youth Services, complete parenting classes and not be allowed to own animals beginning Aug. 1. The charges against them will be expunged if they complete the program.

State police initially filed 115 charges against the couple in June 2024 after finding their five children living in unsanitary conditions and dozens of malnourished and dead animals on their property in January when troopers executed a search warrant in response to an animal neglect investigation.

The couple’s five children slept together on a urine- and feces-stained couch in a room described as “filthy” with an “ammonia smell (that) burned one’s nostrils and lungs,” according to police.

Butler County Children & Youth Services was summoned to the scene and declared the home unfit for residence.

According to an affidavit of probable cause, the animals included 18 alpacas, 10 of which were deceased; one Tennessee walking horse; three basset hounds, one of which was deceased; two Great Danes; two turkeys; nine ducks; three cats; 17 chickens, one of which was deceased; a deceased duck; one guinea hen; one tarantula; two blue-tongued skunks; and one bearded dragon.

In total, 13 of the 61 animals were dead, and the causes of death was determined to be starvation and exposure. The living animals were found to be “extremely thin” and were removed from the property to receive immediate veterinary care.

The 67 charges in the Hesses ARD cases are one felony county of aggravated cruelty to animals, 61 summary charges of neglect of animals and five misdemeanor counts of endangering the welfare of children.