BUNNELL, Fla. — Two parents are facing felony child neglect charges because of the severity of deplorable living conditions at a home in Bunnell, according to the Flagler County Sheriff's Office.
Deputies arrested 31-year-old Tiffany Berry and 34-year-old Nicholas Carter Feb. 28 during a welfare check at their home on Espanola Road, where they said they found sewage backing up into the home, the ceiling rotting and walls missing, with mold and "general filth." The couple's five children, age 12, 11, 7, 3 and 2 months, were taken into DCF custody.
During the welfare check, deputies found a "putrid odor resembling human waste," with waste flowing directly to the ground beneath the house from the bathroom due to a collapsed septic tank, according to the arrest report. The floors in several rooms of the home were also rotting away, exposing the bare ground below where the sewage was being discharged.
In addition to the holes in the floor, deputies reported the ceiling was missing, wet and rotting in most areas of the home, with the ceiling rotting and falling off directly above the children's bunk beds. Deputies said sunlight was showing through the ceiling and walls in large holes throughout the house.
They also reported pieces of the bathroom ceiling and roof missing, exposing wet, rotting wood covered in mold. Deputies said the floor int eh bathroom was decayed and molding, with the tub settled beneath the flooring of the house and gaping in areas, "allowing the smell of the waste below to be inhaled."
The arrest report went on to say all of the bedrooms were full of a moldy odor, along with live and dead cockroaches on the floor and crawling along the TV and furniture in the room. Berry told deputies she and Carter were "very well aware of the conditions of the house and the adverse health effects it was having on all five children," stating the children have stepped in the holes in the floor several times.
Berry told deputies the septic tank had been collapsed since 2017 or 2018, according to the arrest report. She said she notified her landlord, but that their lease had expired a few years prior and the landlord would not make another lease due to the damage.
Berry also told deputies no one would help her and that the Department of Children and Families "just told her to move." The arrest report said Berry told deputies she and Carter had plans to repair the home when they got their tax refund, but "it was very obvious the house was well beyond repair at this point and a severe environmental hazard to the children."
School records show the living conditions have been an ongoing problem since May of 2016, when the oldest child arrived at school covered in bug bites and smelling of urine, the arrest report said. At that time, the family was living in a tent.
Since 2016, Berry and Carter have been offered assistance by several organizations, according to deputies, and have either turned down the help or never followed up.
Deputies said during the investigation, they learned the 12-year-old child has an untreated mental health condition and was frequently left home alone with the other four children overnight while Berry and Carter were at work. The arrest report said the child complained she had no way to call for help in an emergency due to there being no working phone to make calls.
The child told deputies her parents told her to hide if anyone knocked on the door while home alone with the other children, according to the arrest report.
The Flagler County Building Inspector assessed the house and stated it would be condemned as non-livable Monday.
During the investigation, there were also two dogs and a cat found with a lack of shelter, according to the report. Berry surrendered the animals to Flagler County Animal Control.
Berry and Carter were charged with child neglect without great bodily harm and taken to the Sheriff Perry Hall Inmate Detention Facility.
"Between the mold, the unstable foundation, and the fact that these kids were being left unsupervised, this situation could have had a tragic ending," Sheriff Rick Staly said. "Just because you may be poor you must still take care of your children. Sadly, I noticed the large flat screen TV in the room. Parenting is about making the right choices for your family."