FLAGLER COUNTY, FL - Authorities said that after finding a toddler wandering the streets alone in a soiled diaper, police discovered the home that the child came from to have extremely hazardous living conditions with the father passed out intoxicated in his bed.
According to ABC News, the incident happened on Sunday, March 16th, when deputies from the Flagler County Sheriff's Office (FCSO) responding to multiple emergency reports concerning a two-year-old child "walking in the middle of the street in pajamas with a heavily soiled diaper."
Prior to the incident, witnesses said they observed a child in the front yard of a nearby home and that they took the child to the residence where they found the child's father, 44-year-old Ross Judy, "passed out in his bed intoxicated." Deputies responded to the home and during their investigation found "dangerous tools and garbage in the interior and exterior of the home along with animal feces, filth, and an emaciated dog with an ear that was almost rotted off and fur missing from its body."
The sheriff's department said, "The residence was in deplorable living conditions with several alcoholic beverage containers, bugs swimming in toilet water, and a sink piled high with several inches of cigarette ash to the point the sink was no longer visible. Pill bottles were scattered throughout a spare room and on top of living room shelves along with exposed razors and hypodermic needles, which were all accessible to the child."
Following the incident, FCSO Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement, "No child should be living in deplorable conditions with an adult who obviously doesn't care about their wellbeing. The Flagler County Sheriff's Office has no tolerance for anyone endangering children or animals. I am thankful to our residents who 'saw something and said something' so that our deputies could intervene."
Judy was arrested and charged with child neglect without great bodily harm and abandon animal to die, sick, diseased or infirm. He was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and is currently being held on a $4,000 bond. The Florida Department of Children and Families and Palm Coast Animal Control are also investigating the incident.
In a separate incident, an investigation is underway after several children were found alone inside an apartment in Madison, Wisconsin. According to ABC7, police said they were contacted by Child Protective Services after residents in the building reported the children being left alone for one week.
Upon arriving at the apartment, officers found seven children inside, all between the ages of two and 13. Police described the conditions of the apartment as "deplorable." The mother was in Illinois during that week, but has since returned to Wisconsin and is in contact with the police. The children are now in the care of a family friend.
Police continue to investigate the incident. No charges have yet been filed.
According to ABC News, the incident happened on Sunday, March 16th, when deputies from the Flagler County Sheriff's Office (FCSO) responding to multiple emergency reports concerning a two-year-old child "walking in the middle of the street in pajamas with a heavily soiled diaper."
Prior to the incident, witnesses said they observed a child in the front yard of a nearby home and that they took the child to the residence where they found the child's father, 44-year-old Ross Judy, "passed out in his bed intoxicated." Deputies responded to the home and during their investigation found "dangerous tools and garbage in the interior and exterior of the home along with animal feces, filth, and an emaciated dog with an ear that was almost rotted off and fur missing from its body."
The sheriff's department said, "The residence was in deplorable living conditions with several alcoholic beverage containers, bugs swimming in toilet water, and a sink piled high with several inches of cigarette ash to the point the sink was no longer visible. Pill bottles were scattered throughout a spare room and on top of living room shelves along with exposed razors and hypodermic needles, which were all accessible to the child."
Following the incident, FCSO Sheriff Rick Staly said in a statement, "No child should be living in deplorable conditions with an adult who obviously doesn't care about their wellbeing. The Flagler County Sheriff's Office has no tolerance for anyone endangering children or animals. I am thankful to our residents who 'saw something and said something' so that our deputies could intervene."
Judy was arrested and charged with child neglect without great bodily harm and abandon animal to die, sick, diseased or infirm. He was taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility and is currently being held on a $4,000 bond. The Florida Department of Children and Families and Palm Coast Animal Control are also investigating the incident.
In a separate incident, an investigation is underway after several children were found alone inside an apartment in Madison, Wisconsin. According to ABC7, police said they were contacted by Child Protective Services after residents in the building reported the children being left alone for one week.
Upon arriving at the apartment, officers found seven children inside, all between the ages of two and 13. Police described the conditions of the apartment as "deplorable." The mother was in Illinois during that week, but has since returned to Wisconsin and is in contact with the police. The children are now in the care of a family friend.
Police continue to investigate the incident. No charges have yet been filed.
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