Parents Charged After Child Found Home Alone In Wretched Conditions, Police Say

NEW YORK (CBSNewYork) -- A mother and father are facing multiple charges after police say they left their five-year-old child in horrid conditions inside their Bronx apartment.

Neighbor Fernando Rodriguez says he feels disgusted after finding out the child was living in squalor inside the Kingsbridge residence.

"I don't think it's right, especially in the conditions he was living in," he told 1010 WINS' Darius Radzius. "Unacceptable." 

As 1010 WINS reported, a FedEx employee dropped a dime on the parents after he found the boy home alone while making a delivery late Friday morning.

Investigators say when cops went inside, they found the apartment filled with feces, trash, bed bugs, and rats. The boy was inside and appeared malnourished and neglected, according to police.

"Rats, they're living there and everything," neighbor Eric Mendez told 1010 WINS. "It's pretty crazy."

The child told responding officers he hadn't seen his parents since Thursday evening. Officials believe the boy's two sisters, age 12 and 13, and 15-year-old brother were at school around the time police arrived.

"I never heard screaming, commotion. It was actually pretty surprising," neighbor Deanna Strum told CBS2. "He was young. He was small. I actually thought he was younger than five."

Cops say the boy's mom was arrested while working as a nurse at Montefiore Hospital, while his father, who officials say works for the Metropolitan Transportation Authority, was summoned to a nearby police precinct where he was placed under arrest.

They've been charged with endangering incompetence and four counts of failure to exercise control of a minor.

In:
• The Bronx