Authorities said a woman was arrested Monday after they found children inside enclosures that looked like kennels.

Kristal Richard, 33, of West Virginia, allegedly left her sons, ages 2 and 5, inside "locked boxes made of tarp, plywood and mesh," the Charleston Gazette-Mail reported.

State police found the children “without clothes, and surrounded by urine and feces” while conducting a welfare check, according to the Gazette-Mail.

Troopers told the Gazette-Mail that the older boy yelled, “Yippee” when he was released from the enclosure.

Richard admitted to leaving the boys inside the cages a majority of the day and that she “was not fit to raise children,” the Gazette-Mail reported.

Police said the other family members have taken care of the children and Richard was charged with child neglect.

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Inventor Lonnie Johnson stands with his Super Soaker water guns at JTEC Energy on Wednesday, Oct. 29, 2025, in Atlanta. Johnson, a former NASA engineer, is currently working on a new energy technology through his company’s JTEC device that turns thermal heat into usable energy. (Natrice Miller/AJC)