JOSHUA TREE, CA (KMIR/CNN) – A couple says they have been living a nightmare since they were charged with child endangerment, reportedly simply for being poor and homeless, but now, they’ve been gifted a new house.
Daniel Panico and Mona Kirk saw their new home for the first time Tuesday. The house was purchased, fixed and furnished by donations from a GoFundMe page started by their friend Jackie Klear.
Fighting back tears, Panico says he thought of this moment while in jail.
"I dreamed that we would be together in a regular house,” he said.
The couple, married 17 years, says they’ve been living a nightmare since they were arrested earlier this month for living in conditions considered unfit on their Joshua Tree, CA, property with their three young children.
"I came out of the fort, and there were three deputies holding their guns out and screaming for the kids to come out. It was a little scary,” Kirk said.
The district attorney charged Panico and Kirk with three counts of felony child endangerment. They haven’t seen or spoken with their children since.
"It's horrible. We had no idea anything like this would ever happen,” Panico said.
The arrests caused an uproar. Community members stood up for the parents, pleading with the Board of Supervisors to stop criminalizing poverty and homelessness.
"My dreams are to have this law changed so people are not so easily wrenched from wherever they're living and children wrenched from their parents. It's not right, and it has to change,” Panico said.
The couple says they did try to get help, but because they didn’t have a physical address, they didn’t qualify. Now, they say the county is spending more money punishing them for their hardship.
But Panico and Kirk say the love and support being shown to them in their time of need is something they’ll never forget.
"We appreciate it. We do appreciate everybody. Thank you to everybody who’s helped and donated. We do hope we can give back somehow,” Panico said.
The couple has filed paperwork to be reunited with their children. Their attorney calls this a classic case of punishing the poor and believes his clients will be acquitted.
Copyright 2018 KMIR, Family photos via CNN. All rights reserved.
