LAVONIA, Ga. --- When police finally searched the squat white mobile home where they say a man held his family captive for three years, the place was so filthy and bug-infested that one officer had to wear a gas mask and another refused to continue.

Thousands of roaches and other bugs crawled in and out of drawers, cupboards and furniture. Spoiled food littered the place, and a long-ignored plumbing problem left the floors rotten and mattresses moldy.

Investigators allege it was in this three-bedroom trailer in northeastern Georgia where Raymond Daniel Thurmond forced his wife and four children to live, allowing them to leave only once in three years. Even then, it was only fleeting: A two-hour Easter visit to his wife's parents' place in North Carolina.

"It was pretty much a virtual prison," Lavonia Police Lt. Missy Collins said Wednesday.

Mr. Thurmond awaits a bond hearing on charges of rape, child abuse and false imprisonment. He has asked for an attorney but one hadn't been assigned Wednesday.

Neighbors described him as polite and quiet. Behind closed doors, however, police say Mr. Thurmond ruled the family with an iron fist. Sometimes, he'd fly into a rage and hit his children -- ages 14, 13, 12 and 9 -- with a steel-toed boot, Lt. Collins said. Other times, the children told Lt. Collins they would hear their father attacking and raping their mother in a bedroom.

Mr. Thurmond's wife finally came forward after he told her he was leaving her for another woman and that he'd return every few days with food, Lt. Collins said.

The children, who are underweight and malnourished, are in government custody, and investigators describe them as shy, but not completely socially undeveloped.