The parents of seven children who were found living in a home with maggots in their hair, caged rats, a padlocked fridge and other unsafe living conditions in Pennsylvania have been arrested and charged with endangering their welfare.
Crystal Robertson, 37, and her husband Shane Robertson, 47, were charged on May 19 after police found the children in unsafe conditions last month, according to a criminal complaint.
Richard Dean, a detective with the Pennridge Regional Police Department, wrote in a probable cause affidavit included in the complaint that police responded to a West Rockhill Township trailer around 1:15 p.m. on April 23 after a 911 caller reported that kids were inside a trailer believed to be abandoned.
Responding police found a barefoot 12-year-old girl at the trailer, identified as Juvenile 3, who said the children had disobeyed their parents’ direction not to go to the abandoned trailer.
“JV3 continued by stating she was only taking a blanket to keep her rats warm because her family does not have much money left,” Dean wrote in the affidavit.
Police contacted the Robertsons by phone and advised them that they were concerned for the children’s welfare because of their appearance and asked to see their home.
Crystal Robertson allegedly called her children “garbage disposals with legs” as responding police found the refrigerator locked with a bicycle lock.
Officers later left and filed a report but were requested to return after officials with Bucks County Children and Youth discovered more children were allegedly being kept hidden in a back room.
The seven children were transported to a local hospital for evaluation, where all but one were determined to be malnourished.
Upi.