FLAGLER COUNTY, Fla. – The Flagler County Sheriff’s Office recovered an unattended toddler and arrested a man after a welfare check led to the discovery of deplorable living conditions in a home with multiple children.
Police said on Sept. 27, a woman called FCSO and said an unattended 2-year-old entered her car while she was delivering groceries to a home in Palm Coast.
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The woman said the toddler exited her car and started walking across the street before walking into an open garage.
Deputies went to the home, knocked on the door and could see trash and discarded food on the floor from the front window.
A 39-year-old man opened the door and said the toddler walked to the edge of the driveway and was only outside for a few minutes.
The man said he left the door to the garage open and was in another room when the child walked out.
He said he lived in the home with five children ages 2,4,8,15, and 16 years old, the children’s mother, and a roommate.
With consent, police searched the home and they said they could smell “a strong odor of feces, urine, mold, and mildew”.
Deputies said large clumps of fecal matter were seen in the home while the children were walking around barefoot.
Officials described the environment as unsafe and horrid living conditions.
Investigators found several clumps of fuzzy, days-old fecal matter, trash, and food in the laundry room.
In the kitchen, deputies found dirty dishes, roaches, flies, and rotting food scattered on the floors and countertops.
Knives were left out and easily accessible to the children.
The man told police the young children slept in the master bedroom, where they found more trash and urine on the floor.
Two beds with blankets and pillows were on the floor and fecal matter was found in the closet with flies.
The man said the toddler liked to be in the garage. Deputies found several power tools, exposed wires, sharp objects, a BB gun, and a smoking pipe for marijuana, all accessible to the toddler.
The roommate said he’s lived in the home for the past two years as the children’s caregiver because he was home more than the mother.
He described the living conditions as “frowned upon”.
The man couldn’t give deputies a reasonable explanation for the living conditions, which he called “a little dirty”. He also couldn’t explain why sharp objects were within the children’s reach.
He was arrested and charged with child neglect without great bodily harm.
This isn’t the first time FCSO has responded to the home. There have been 16 separate occasions since Jan. 2023.
On March 4, 2023, a person called the police about a child found wandering in the roadway.
On Dec. 30, 2023, the called the Palm Coast Fire Department for a child having a seizure from ingesting marijuana.
He was also arrested and charged with child neglect on Feb. 28, 2020.