A Connecticut mother was arrested after she left all of her children under 12 alone in a home stinking with human feces and moldy food, according to police.
An arrest warrant reported Tuesday to local outlets says Lindsay Powell allegedly subjected her three daughters and one son to horrific conditions inside after leaving them at her Vernon apartment on Nov. 8.
When an officer arrived at the home after receiving a call from a concerned neighbor, the 11-year-old daughter opened the door naked with her three younger siblings behind her. CT Insider reported, Citing police documents.
According to the outlet, the officer at the scene later wrote, “I was struck by the smell of cat urine, rotting food and feces.”
“It was difficult to stand at the door because the stench coming from inside the apartment was burning my nostrils.”
Garbage, dirt and moldy food were spread on the floor in the living room and kitchen, and the kitchen floor was splattered with human and cat feces, the warrant states.
There was only expired milk and a juice bottle in the fridge.
A pull-out sofa on which children slept had a dirty guinea pig cage with a guinea pig inside; There were no beds in the bedrooms.
“This smell caused me difficulty standing in the bedroom for more than a few seconds,” the office reportedly wrote.
“However, the children entered this bedroom without any problems. I believed the children were blinded by the terrible smell of the bedroom.”
At one point, he observed one of the children “eating old pasta off the floor.”
The kids ate frozen pizza the night before and then ate some of it the next morning before they went looking for more to eat.
When Powell was contacted by a friend, she claimed she would return soon, but never did. Officers stayed with the children for seven hours – and a group of neighbors also came to deliver food to the children – before the state Department of Children and Families took over.
Powell, who at one point threatened a family member with suicide, was later tracked down to Poughkeepsie and arrested.
He was flown back to Connecticut on Monday to face four counts of risk of injury to a minor, the newspaper reports.
(TagstoTranslate)Metro(T)US News(T)Child Endangerment(T)Connecticut(T)Hudson Valley
