Mom Let 8-Year-Old Girl Live In Trash-Filled House With No Doors Or Working Toilet: Police
KEY POINTS
- Police were called to the residence for a welfare check
- They found the main door was replaced with a cardboard
- Marijuana and alcoholic beverages were also found at the house
Police have rescued an eight-year-old girl who was living with her mother in their garbage-filled house in Pennsylvania.
Kiski Township Police officers, who visited the home for a welfare check Monday evening, were shocked to find the house with no working toilet, carpets stained with dog feces, and rooms filled to the brim with garbage and cloth piles, reports WPXI.
The child's mother, Mindy M. Smith, 44, was taken into custody and charged with aggravated assault, simple assault, endangering the welfare of a child, recklessly endangering another person, and harassment. Some of the charges pertain to Smith's attack on a teenage boy, a few hours before the officers were called in for a welfare check.
In the criminal complaint, the police said Smith, on seeing the officers, asked them to "just come in and look." Officers who stepped in found that the main door had been ripped off its hinges. The screen door was also missing and it was replaced by cardboard. As a result, the house did not have a lock.
"Inside the living room, there were numerous piles of boxes, making it impossible to navigate the room," read the criminal complaint.
When asked for the girl's bedroom, the mother showed the officers a room with "boxes and clothes all over the floor and bed, making it impossible for the juvenile to sleep or even go in there."
When questioned, Smith said her daughter slept "on the couch in the living room." However, there was no couch, instead "two separate chairs which are pushed together" and leg rest for the juvenile to lie on.
"On the chair right beside where the juvenile sleeps is a box filled with clothes and garbage. This leaves the juvenile with only a little cubby to sleep on the chair," the complaint read.
Two other rooms of the house too were filled with clothing and garbage piles. Both rooms didn't have doors.
The officers also found a jar of marijuana, pills and multiple alcoholic beverages amid the clutter.
The child was released into the care of a relative. Meanwhile, neighbors told WPXI that Smith and her 18-year old son were violent and busted down their front door during a recent fight.
"There are always loud noises, fighting, cursing late at night and during the day sometimes," a neighbor was quoted by WPXI.
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