Pontiac mother arrested after 3 children found living in vile conditions, sheriff says
A 34-year-old Pontiac mother is in custody after Oakland County authorities found three children living at a home in "deplorable shape."
According to the Oakland County Sheriff's Office, a landlord for a residence on the 600 block of Lydia Lane called deputies Friday after not hearing from the mother since December. The landlord told authorities that rent hadn't been paid since October and he was concerned something may have happened.
Responding deputies found the residence to be in vile shape, the sheriff's office says, seeing mold and human waste throughout, garbage piled as high as four feet in some rooms and an overflowing toilet.
The deputies found three children at the home: a 15-year-old boy, a 13-year-old girl and a 12-year-old girl. The girls had locked themselves in the bathroom but opened the door when asked.
The children were reportedly wearing soiled clothing and had matted hair and toenails that were several inches long when found. They were taken to the hospital for evaluation Friday and have since been placed in the custody of a relative by Child Protective Services.
According to the sheriff's office, the boy told deputies he and his two sisters lived alone and were abandoned by their mother in 2020 or 2021. The children survived on food their mother or a stranger would leave on the front porch each week.
The mother did not leave toilet paper or hygiene items, authorities say. She reportedly had contact with the boy but had not seen the girls in years.
The boy slept on a mattress on the floor while the girls slept on pizza boxes, the sheriff's office said. They have not been to school since their abandonment and have passed the time watching television or playing games.
Neighbors allegedly told deputies they didn't know the children lived in the home and never saw them outside, but did see the mother drop items off each month.
Emma Gross, who lives in the neighborhood and is on a Homeowner Association subcommittee, said her phone was blowing up with community members expressing shock and sadness.
An evidence technician went through the home in a HAZMAT suit.
The mother was found at a different location and arrested without incident, authorities say. When talking to deputies, she said the father of the children is not involved in their lives.
"Throughout my extensive career in this field, I have never encountered a scenario as dire and prolonged as this one, involving abandonment, neglect, and abuse of the highest order," Oakland County Sheriff Michael Bouchard said in a release Sunday. "This situation would be deemed deplorable and intolerable for an animal, and it is utterly unacceptable for three children."
Bouchard says his office will be presenting the case to the Oakland County prosecutor.
