Five people have been arrested after authorities say they grossly neglected a dozen mentally disabled adults, collecting their Social Security checks while forcing them to live in a ramshackle San Jose house bereft of running water and littered with feces from the dozens of malnourished dogs also being kept there.

Prosecutors hope to get in touch with anyone who has had relatives stay at the Cortona Drive home.

“These incredibly vulnerable people were treated worse than the animals that were rescued,” deputy district attorney Charles Huang said. “We are hoping anyone else who has had relatives in this home will contact us as soon as possible.”

On Monday, police arrested Kathy Le, 41; Jennifer Ngo, 63; Margaret Ngo, 27; Charles Nguyen, 25; and George Dac Nguyen, 72. The defendants are relatives and all face dependent adult abuse and animal neglect charges, which were filed Thursday. All are out on bail, Huang said.

The victims were entrusted to the family with the understanding that they would be their caregivers. Instead, authorities say, the residents were malnourished, beaten, and forbidden from using toilet paper.

Prosecutors said the victims, suffering from schizophrenia and other severe mental illnesses, were kept in their room for most of the day. Their only respite came once a month, when they were bathed and their clothes washed for doctor visits. All while the defendants cashed in the residents’ disability benefits, Huang said.

Huang said the victims, who do not speak English, are all immigrants new to the country, “living on the periphery of the community.”

He believes the victim’s family members found out about the purported care facility through contacts within the Vietnamese community.

“Informal arrangements were made for them to quote-unquote care for them for an informal price,” Huang said.

The scheme started to unravel May 31 when relatives of someone staying at the home told police they were barred from visiting and were told the resident didn’t live there.

Officers performing a welfare check were initially rebuffed but got inside and found rotted food, no running water and locks on the refrigerator door. They also found 25 dogs.

“It appears that the dogs were able to run throughout the house,” Huang said. “There was dog feces and a stench of urine throughout the house.”

The victims slept on mattresses scattered around the home, and Huang said it is unclear how many were in each room.

Police helped place the victims in adult protective custody and the dogs were taken by the city’s animal services department. The residents were taken first to the hospital, then to licensed-care facilities.

Just one day after police cleared out the home, someone posing as a relative checked three of the victims out of the hospital and took them back to the Cortona Drive home, where they were kept for another month.

“That aspect is unclear to us,” Huang said. “We’re looking into it and there may be more charges.”

When it came to the attention of police, they forced their way in and rescued them, along with 21 more dogs, authorities said.

Huang said they do not know where the dogs came from.

The defendants are scheduled to be arraigned July 16 and face up to 18 years in prison if convicted.

Prosecutors believe there are additional victims and ask that anyone with information about the case contact San Jose police Detective Monica De La Cerda at 408-277-3700.

Contact Robert Salonga at 408-920-5002. Follow him at Twitter.com/robertsalonga.