A Middletown mother has been arrested after police officers found her children living in deplorable conditions and eating dog food off the floor, according to police.
Police officers responded to an undisclosed location just before 2 p.m. Thursday after the fire marshal spotted trash blocking a third-floor apartment.
Middletown firefighters had responded to the home because a cigarette thrown from a third-floor window set an air conditioner on fire and fire officials needed to speak with the people in the third-floor apartment, police said.
When officers went to the apartment, 27-year-old Chloe Edwards, of Middletown, answered the door and the officers were “taken back” by the smell coming from the residence, police said.
Five children were in the apartment, which police said was uncomfortably warm. Officers noted that there were several flies in the apartment and the carpet was stained with food, urine, cockroach carcasses and feces.
In the kitchen, flies and cockroaches covered dishes that filled the sink, according to police, and the only food in the refrigerator included two jars of sauce, a can of pasta and two small jars of baby food, the arraignment report states.
Two bedrooms were in deplorable condition, according to police.
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One had three beds with broken frames and no pillows, blankets or sheets. Police said the mattresses were stained with dog vomit, feces and some sorts of liquids. Police also saw cigarette butts beer cans and dry spaghetti.
The bed in another bedroom was also missing sheets, pillows and blankets and a folding knife was on the floor. Police said white paint was strewn about and there were exposed nails on wooden boards.
When officers opened the back door to the back landing of the apartment, they found a three- to four-foot high pile of trash and, near the front entryway, police saw an electrical socket without a cover and exposed wires, police said.
Police called the state Department of Children and Families. While waiting for DCF, two of the children said they were hungry and ate dry dog food they found on the floor. Four of the children were transported to DCF, police said.
The other juvenile was not Edwards’s child, police said. Edwards knew her through a “third party” and the child’s mother had reported her missing, police said
The city of Middletown Health Department declared the apartment “unfit for occupancy.”
Edwards was charged with five counts of risk of injury to a minor and is being held on $10,000 bond.
