UNIONTOWN, Penn. (CNN) -- Studies show too many video games can be bad for children, but apparently parents aren't immune from the effects either. Police say a Pennsylvania mom was so addicted to online computer games she left her six children living in filth.
The photographer and reporter for WPXI in Pennsylvania were getting video of a house on Mifflin Avenue in Uniontown because police say six children lived here in filth, and as their cameras rolled, James Boord walked out and tried to explain how it got that way.
James Boord is the stepfather. The reporter asks, "The police say that your wife is addicted to online computer games," and he responds, "Yeah, she is." So the reporter asks, "Don't you think that's a problem?" and he responds, "Yeah."
Boord says his wife, Elizabeth Ruffner, is so obsessed with online games that she neglected her six children, his stepchildren, all under the age of 11.
Police say the woman constantly played games, while her children lived in a home covered in animal waste. Uniontown Police Officer Mike Garrow, Sr. says, "There was no food in the cupboards. The bedrooms had mattresses on the floor with no sheets or pillows. It looked like they got these mattresses out of the junk yard. They were just filthy."
The children's stepfather did make an effort, police say. Boord told us it was hard for him to handle six kids alone. He says, "I've been working, and I couldn't have been home to take care of them. I came and cleaned, I cleaned them. I gave them their baths at night time before school. I cleaned up after them. It just became too much for me to do."
Boord's wife wouldn't come outside to talk to us. Youth services took her children, but Boord says she still has her computer.
Police say they plan to file felony child endangerment charges in this case.
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