An Arnold woman faces child endangerment charges after a boy and girl, both 7, were removed from a home because of poor living conditions. It was at least the second time children were removed from the Arnold home because of conditions there, Arnold Police reported.
A Department of Family Services case worker received a tip line call claiming children were in the home and it was unfit to live in. Then, at about 11:25 a.m. June 8, officers accompanied the case worker to the home, the report said.
They allegedly found trash spilling out of the carport, along with trash scattered across the yard and piled into a utility trailer parked in the driveway. A man at the home told the officers the children would come to the home to be watched while their mother was at work, and on occasion, the mother and children slept there, according to the report.
A woman who lives at the home told police she watches the children while their mom is at work. She also told police her children were removed from the home and placed in a foster home because of the house’s condition, but she didn’t believe it was a problem for her to watch someone else’s children, police reported.
Officers said the home’s walls were stained with grease and dirt. They also said trash was strewn throughout the home, with paths created on the floor to walk through the piles of debris, the report said.
In the basement, sheets were hung from ceilings and used to divide the area into rooms. Officers said there were two makeshift beds – a camping cot and a patio lounge chair the children slept on when spending the night, according to the report.
The children’s mother, a 38-year-old Arnold woman, was at the home when the case worker and police searched it. She reportedly admitted to leaving her children there to be watched and sometimes spending the night at the house, the report said.
The children were removed from the home by Family Services, and the mother was issued a summons to appear in Arnold Municipal Court for second-degree child endangerment. In addition, the house was condemned, Detective Lt. Jason Valentine said.
Officers returned to the home at about 9:30 p.m. June 17 after receiving a call from someone claiming people were still living in the condemned house. When officers knocked on the door, they allegedly heard people and dogs moving around inside, but at first, no one answered the door. The officers continued to knock on the door for several minutes before a woman answered the door, the report said.
The woman allegedly told the officers she was only at the home after driving the people to the house, and she claimed they were cleaning the home. The car the woman reportedly drove there was parked on the street away from the home, according to the report.
The officers found seven people at the home – a 36-year-old woman, a 26-year-old man, a 57-year-old man, a 52-year-old woman, a 57-year-old woman, a 31-year-old man and a 48-year-old woman, all of Arnold, and it was determined the people were living in the condemned home. They were cited for second-degree trespassing, Valentine said.
He said and one of the seven – a 31-year-old man – was arrested on outstanding warrants from the Jefferson County Sheriff’s Office for second-degree burglary and transported to the Jefferson County Jail. The woman who answered the door was not living in the home, and she was released with a warning that no one could be at the home because it was condemned, the report said.