Father and his sisters 'locked three children adopted from Ukraine in their room for TWO MONTHS after his wife died from cancer'

Bedrooms secured more than normal, police say

37-year-old charged with cruelty and false imprisonment

Two boys aged 10 and 15, and girl, 8, taken into protective custody

Couple had adopted family from Ukraine before mother's death



Arrested: Lev Dzyuba faces child cruelty charges

A Georgia father has been accused of locking three of his adopted children in their room for two months after the death of their mother.



After receiving a tip off, investigators went to the Conyers, Rockdale, home yesterday, where they found two boys, aged 10 and 15, and a girl, 8, secured in a room.



Lev Dzyuba, 37, and his sisters 20-year-old Alina Dzyuba and 26-year-old Natalia Mellon, have been arrested and the children have been taken into protective custody.



Captain Chris Traylor, of Rockdale Sheriff's Office, said the alleged cruelty began after the children's mother, Larisa, died.



Mrs Dzyuba, a mother-of-four, died from cancer at the age of 34 in August last year.



Police believe Dzyuba and his sisters deprived three of the couple's children of food and the ability to leave their rooms, according to the Atlanta Journal Constitution .

' In this case, the abuse may be more mental, less physical and more subtle,' Captain Traylor said.

Neighbors said the only sign that something was amiss at the Conyers home, which has a basketball hoop in the drive, and swing set in the yard, was that no one had seen the children for awhile.

'It's a sad situation. We just don't know what's going on behind closed doors,' neighbor Cathy Morris told WSBTV .

Another neighbor, Andrew Covington, said: 'It has to just completely separate them from all of their peers and just be a huge impact on them to pull them out of the socialization with their friends.'



Charged: Natalia Mellon, left, and Alina Dzyuba have been arrested on child cruelty charges



Family: Lev and Larisa Dzyuba with their children. Three of them were allegedly locked in the father's home

Loss: Larisa Dzyuba died of cancer last year, leaving Lev to care for their adopted children

When investigators arrived at the home they were refused entry by Alina Dzyuba until her brother, who runs an air conditioning business, returned from work.



Once inside, they spoke to the children and checked crawl spaces for evidence to back up the claims that the youngsters, in particular the 15-year-old boy, had been kept locked away.

Police said the children's rooms were 'secured more than you would secure a room in your house normally'.

'When a 15-year-old child is secured in a room and he can't get out of the room without somebody letting him out, and he's kept in the house and unable to go outside of the house, things of that nature is what makes it criminal,' Captain Traylor added.

A friend of the family's said the Dzyubas had adopted the three children from Ukraine about a year before the wife died.

Lacya Kucheryavaya told Fox 5 the sisters had been asked to help care for the children, who were home schooled.



'With his wife having passed away, he knew that he would need extra help and attention to pay attention to the kids,' Ms Kucheryavaya said, as she expressed disbelief that Dzyuba would harm the children in any way.

Locked away: Police are investigating claims that three children had been locked in the family home for two months

Allegations: Lev Dzyuba is accused of keeping the children locked away after Larisa, right, died

Memories: Lev and Larisa Dzyuba with their children. Three were adopted from Ukraine

Dzyuba and his sisters have been charged with child cruelty and false imprisonment.



The father was accused of failing to provide necessary sustenance and his sisters were accused of mental or physical pain, jail records showed.

