Three children found abandoned in squalid conditions

LAKE STEVENS, Wash. -- Authorities say that police found three children -- ages 7, 3, and 11-months -- living in a dilapidated house, surrounded by animal feces and garbage in Lake Stevens, Washington, reports CBS affiliate KIRO-TV.

Officers were called to the home on Saturday when someone who was trying to collect a debt noticed that only the children were home, according to the station. When police arrived, they found a 7-year-old girl who was padlocked inside the house.

The children had been left without food or heat, according to a police news release. One of the children reportedly had a core temperature of 94 degrees and was treated for hypothermia and dehydration. All three children are now in the custody of child protective services.

Officials could not say how long the children had been left unattended, but their parents did not show up at the residence, according to KIRO-TV.

Investigators found the parents -- identified as Mark Dorson and Amanda Foley by neighbors -- and booked them into Snohomish County Jail for felony criminal mistreatment and abandonment of a dependent person.

Dorson had reportedly been involved in other offenses, including second degree assault with a deadly weapon, unlawful possession of a firearm, possessing a stolen firearm, and violation of work release

There had been a history of child protective services calls and code enforcement issues at this address, police told the station. School staff had made calls, noting that one of the children missed a lot of school and usually came hungry and unkempt, according to KIRO-TV.

Neighbors told the station that they had no idea what was going on inside the house, but the appearance of the outside of the house left many of them frustrated. They had confronted Dornson about it.

"He pretty much threw attitude, and said he was doing the best he could. And we said 'OK, well, it needs to be taken care of,'" Matt Eberharter, a neighbor, told the CBS affiliate.