MILWAUKEE (Court TV) — A man convicted of locking his young children in a storage unit asked for mercy on Thursday, but a judge ignored his pleas and sent him to prison.
Charles Dupriest enters court for his sentencing on April 10, 2026. (Court TV)
Charles Dupriest, 34, was convicted by a jury of possession of a firearm and eight counts of neglecting a minor. Judge Ana M. Berrios sentenced him to serve five years in prison, followed by five years of extended supervision, in line with the prosecution’s recommendation.
Dupriest was arrested on Sept. 16, 2025, when police were called to a report of a baby crying inside a locked storage unit in Milwaukee. When police cut open a padlock to access the unit, they found children ages 9, 7, 5, 3, 2 and 2 months asleep on a sectional sofa and a bare mattress. There was no light in the unit and an orange bucket in the center of the space contained urine.
Dupriest was found outside the unit, asleep in an SUV alongside the children’s mother, Azyia Zielinski. The couple was arrested together, but Zielinski pleaded guilty to the charges she faced. At her sentencing last month, Berrios sentenced her to a stayed term, meaning she avoided prison.
Dupriest had also requested a stayed sentence; his attorney noted that he had already served 205 days of incarceration. “It’s been a hard time for him,” Dupriest’s attorney, Annamarie Wineke, told the Court. “He’s had a lot of time to think.” Dupriest addressed the judge as well, pleading to be released so that he can finish parenting classes he’s been ordered to take. “I just want to be capable of being there for my children,” Dupriest said. “I understand that this situation is very serious and I understand that it’s affected them. My absence has affected them. And be being absent from them further would continue to affect them negatively.”
Prosecutors described Dupriest as having an “air of entitlement” and said that he has refused to accept responsibility for what happened despite the jury’s conviction. “This case is not about punishing poverty,” prosecutor Tom Hasle said Thursday. “It’s about holding parents accountable for choices that put children in danger.”
On the day the children were found in the unit, prosecutors said that the family had been offered a safe place to sleep and food, but Dupriest declined. “I don’t know if that decision was made out of pride, or of issues of power and control,” Barrios said. “But at this point, it doesn’t matter, because the wrong choices were made.”
Dupriest had previous convictions on weapons charges, assault and sexual assault charges.
