PIERSON, Fla. — Sheriff’s deputies checking the home of a Florida woman and her small child made a gruesome discovery: three dead dogs in her freezer, and a house covered in filth and insects.
The Daytona Beach News-Journal reports that 35-year-old Victoria Kanger was arrested on Thursday and charged with child neglect.
Volusia County sheriff’s deputies say they found heaps of trash inside the home, which was infested with fleas and cockroaches, and were overwhelmed by the odor of urine and feces.
The deputies’ lower pant legs were covered in fleas when they entered.
Authorities say a 5-year-old girl living in the home sat in a couch crawling with roaches. She directed the deputies to the dogs in the freezer, which were wrapped in plastic and cardboard, according to an affidavit obtained by CBS affiliate WKMG.
Victoria Kanger
WKMG
Kanger told authorities she froze the dogs because she didn’t have a shovel to bury them and that she didn’t think it was odd to keep them there because there was no food that was stored alongside them.
The investigation began in October when deputies received a tip from a 911 caller that Kanger was neglecting her two children, the five-year-old girl and a 14 year old, reports WKMG.
“It is disgusting, non-livable for a 5-year-old. I mean, there’s poop all over the floor, there’s piles of clothes, there’s roaches. She’s had lice for the past eight months,” the tipster told a dispatcher, according to a 911 tape obtained by the station.
There were also two dogs and “numerous” cats living in the home, though the sole litter box was so dirty it was impossible for the felines to use,according to an affidavit obtained by WKMG. Insects were seen swarming around animal feces on the floor, the documents said.
Kanger and the five-year-old girl were seen brushing insects off and the child was seen stepping in roach-covered animal feces with her bare feet, the document said.
The kitchen was found with piles of soiled dishes and trash with a large number of cockroaches “crawling on the floor, counter tops, sink, stove and walls,” the affidavit read.
A deputy wrote in the document that Kanger was dismissive about the deplorable condition of the home, and only when he said he was calling the state Department of Children and Families did she begin to try to clean up with her daughter.
State child welfare officials responded and removed the two children from the home.
WKMG reports Kanger is being held on $2,500 bond and was ordered not to have any unsupervised contact with her two children, who are staying with family members.
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