Two women have been taken into custody last week after two children, who were under their care, were living in “deplorable living conditions.” The Washoe County Sheriff’s Office in Nevada revealed in a press release that the children’s mother, 29-year-old Lindsay Arnold, and her friend 46-year-old Christa Garcia kept nearly three dozen dogs at their home, which just added to the filth.
Officers arrived at the Lemmon Valley home at 7 a.m. on January 31 for a welfare check. “The family for which deputies were called to investigate live in two of three bedrooms which are sublet out of a 900 square foot basement,” read the press release. In this home, officers found two children, a 7-year-old and a 9-year-old ” who were heartbreakingly living in a small bedroom with 18 dogs.”
Police say they found two children, aged 9 and 7, along with 34 dogs crammed into two bedrooms inside the 900 square foot basement apartment.https://t.co/iLPGemwhWW
— WGXA (@WGXAnews) February 1, 2022
On inspecting the kids, officers found “old and new” dog bites and scratch all over their body. Their room had a deflated air mattress that was covered in feces and the children allegedly slept on that. Meanwhile, Arnold and Garcia lived in a second bedroom with 15 dogs. An “uninvolved third party” was reportedly staying in the rented third bedroom with a dog of their own.
“The entire basement floor was covered with clothing, trash, and animal feces,” stated the release of the three-bedroom, 900-square-foot basement sublet. “Washoe County Regional Animal Services (WCRAS) responded to the scene and rescued 34 dogs of various breeds and sizes from Chihuahuas to large Pit Bull Terriers. WCRAS is handling the open, ongoing animal hoarding case,” it added.
Cops made the decision of taking the kids into police custody after witnessing their living conditions. They were handed over to a relative for emergency care, according to the press release. Cops did not reveal the long-term custody plans for Arnold’s children nor did they share what prompted them to conduct a welfare check in the first place, reports Daily Mail.
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As for their mother, she now faces two felony counts of child Abuse, Neglect, or Endangerment while Garcia has been charged with two gross misdemeanor counts of Child Abuse, Neglect or Endangerment. If convicted of the felony child abuse charges, the mom could face anywhere from two to twenty years in prison. Garcia on the other hand could be jailed for up to a year and maybe fined for as much as $2,000 if convicted for the counts of gross misdemeanor. It remains unclear whether the two women would face any animal abuse charges as well.
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Representative cover image source: Getty | Photo by ermingut
