Pontiac mom accused of abandoning three children pleads no contest to child abuse

A Pontiac, Michigan, mother accused of abandoning her three children for years and leaving them to live in what authorities called deplorable conditions, has pleaded no contest to child abuse charges. 

Kelli Bryant, 35, pleaded no contest to three counts of first-degree child abuse on Thursday, Oakland County prosecutors said. 

Bryant was arrested and charged with first-degree child abuse in February 2025, after Oakland County deputies found Bryant's three children — a 15-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl — living at a home in "deplorable shape" while performing a welfare check in the 600 block of Lydia Lane. 

As part of the terms of her plea agreement, Bryant will serve at least six years in prison, prosecutors said. 

Authorities say the three children were found wearing soiled clothing and had matted hair and toenails that were several inches long. 

The Oakland County Sheriff's Office said the boy told deputies he and his two sisters lived alone and were abandoned by Bryant in 2020 or 2021. The children, who did not go outside of the home or attend school, survived on the food their mother would periodically drop off at their doorstep.

While searching the residence, deputies found it to be in vile shape, seeing mold and human waste throughout, garbage piled as high as four feet in some rooms and an overflowing toilet. 

"This plea will spare the children from testifying at trial and ensures Bryant remains incarcerated until they are all adults," Oakland County Prosecutor Karen McDonald said in a statement. "I'm hopeful the children she victimized will continue to have the space and resources to heal from this abhorrent trauma."  

Bryant pleaded no contest to welfare fraud charges in December 2025 and was sentenced in June. Her parental rights were terminated in family court in April 2026. 

Bryant is scheduled to be sentenced on Sept. 21 in the Sixth Circuit Court.