Cops arrest five women for keeping 20 children and 18 dogs in 'uninhabitable' house

Mon, 09/05/2016 - 13:57 -- siteadmin

Five women have been arrested in California after authorities found they allegedly kept 20 children and 18 dogs living in 'uninhabitable conditions.'

Police in Victorville say the kids and dogs didn't have enough food or water in the home described as 'complete filth, CBS Los Angeles reported. 

There was black mold throughout the place and 'several serious health and safety issues,' Victorville police said in a statement. 

'The sleeping conditions were inadequate, there was no electricity or gas, and the carpet, walls, and furniture were in severe disrepair,' police said.

There were broken toys covered in dirt, dirty dishes, piled ash trays and human waste in the house, KLTA reported. 

Cops also found two dead dogs inside the home. 

The five women are believed to be the kids' grandmother and mothers.

Two of them — Matosha Martinez, 35, and Virginia Mann, 61 — were arrested on suspicion of being under the influence of a controlled substance and child cruelty, cops said.

The other three were booked on charges of child cruelty: Cherish Lewis, 22, Dajanet Smith, 25, and Thereca Griff, 42.

The children were removed by the county's Department of Children and Family Services, the Daily Press reported.

Neighbors complained for months about the home, where kids ages two months to 17-years-old often played unsupervised on local streets — dirty and barefoot.

'One night I had to call the police because there was about 15 people, both male and female, all beating up a young girl in the middle of the street,' neighbor Stephanie Gomez told the Daily Press. 'Few days later the young girl returned to the house.'

Gomez's husband, Bert, said the couple would 'pass by that house every day and there was always something going on.

'We would see too many different types of people that were out of place leaving and entering the house every night,' Bert Gomez told the Daily Press. said 

'There would be 15 to 20 cars parked around the house every night too, with people sleeping inside.'

Source: Daily Mail