Neighbor Travis Metcalf isn't buying it.



"They're living underneath tarps," he said. "So kinda take it at that."



"No Trespassing" signs mark the perimeter of the Naugler's 27-acre homestead, located off of a gravel road. Facebook page photos reveal tarps cover the wood framing that serves as the family's quarters. There is no wired electricity, only generators. No running water and no toilets; only shallow latrines or slop buckets.



Dozens of photos posted on the social media page show the children playing in snow or mud.



"They delivered a baby up there last winter," Metcalf said. "It was about 30 degrees below zero; it's no living conditions for a kid at all."



The children do not attend formal schools. Postings allude to a "free-schooling" approach in which parents provide "life lessons" to each child at his or her own pace.



The Nauglers have depended upon neighbors' private wells or municipal hookups for their drinking water, but a confrontation on Sunday prompted a criminal summons for Joe Naugler on a charge of menacing.



"(Naugler) was turned down for the water request and asked to leave the property," the summons read. "He then said to his son 'get the pistol out of the glove compartment box.'"



WAVE 3 News has withheld the complainant's name at her request.



"He (Naugler) was acting very erratically," the complainant said in an interview Friday. "He was calling us names that I have to spell out. I can't even say 'em. And he said 'don't worry, I know where you live, and I'm gonna be back.'"



On Wednesday a sheriff's deputy went to the Nauglers, summons in hand, attempting to conduct a welfare check for Child Protective Services. He wanted to speak with two of their sons, who reportedly witnessed the water confrontation.



A website run by a supporter of Nicole Naugler posted the audio recordings of her encounter with the deputy:

