Parents charged after nude children found riding Big Wheel

BRANDON — Sheriff's deputies arrested two parents Tuesday morning after neighbors reported seeing their children riding a Big Wheel in the nude.

The 2- and 3-year-old boys were found one block from their house in the 3600 block of Sugar Creek Drive, said the Hillsborough County Sheriff's Office.

When deputies took the children back to their home, they found the doors open.

After deputies knocked and yelled, the 3-year-old went inside and woke his parents, Xiomara Enid Diaz, 22, and Rafael Viconte Ortiz, 24.

Inside the house conditions were "deplorable" and two Chihuahuas were roaming, the Sheriff's Office said.

"The two dogs they kept were allowed to use the bathroom throughout the house," sheriff's spokeswoman Debbie Carter said. "There were no beds for the children and no food in the house."

Deputies arrested Diaz and Ortiz and charged them with three counts of child neglect and two counts of confinement of animals without food or water.

The boys and a 5-year-old sibling, who was at kindergarten at the time of his parents' arrests, were taken by child welfare workers, Carter said. The dogs are in the custody of county Animal Services.

Diaz and Ortiz are being held at Hillsborough County Jail on $7,000 bail.

Robbyn Mitchell can be reached at rmitchell@sptimes.com or (813) 226-3373.