Three children were removed from a Middletown home, and their mother and grandmother were arrested after police said they found the house in deplorable and “unliveable” conditions.
Mid-September, a neighbor alerted police to the condition the children were living in and the fact that they were running around the neighborhood naked earlier in the day. Police responded to the Charles Street home later that day.
Officers found a 3-year-old, 5-year-old, and 8-year-old living in the home with no furniture other than a dirty mattress that the kids slept on, along with their mother and grandmother. Sara and Barbara Taylor were arrested on site and both charged with three counts of endangering children.
Police said the first thing the children’s mother, Sara Taylor, told them was, “You’re gonna take my kids away,” because “the house is really dirty.” Online court records show she has been charged with endangering children at least once before.
Investigators said the home was filled with trash, dirt, mice, fleas, roaches, and bedbugs. They also said trash and roaches lined the front yard and porch area leading to the home.
“It’s pitiful. People don’t care,” one neighbor, who asked to remain anonymous, told WLWT. “Gross. Sickening. The woman should be put in jail and locked away and throw the key away.”
Police said there were even mice inside the refrigerator, along with spoiled food and a “very foul odor.”
Police conducted an emergency child removal and said all three children were taken to a foster home.
