An arrest report from the Jacksonville Sheriff's Office reveals two suspects have been taken into custody for child neglect as two young children were found living in filth.
JSO says on Monday, August 20, an officer responded to a call about two children found outside the Golden Crabhouse on N. Edgewood Avenue in Northwest Jacksonville around 6:25 p.m.
The children were reportedly barefoot, standing in the rain and one of them had defecated on themselves.
Another JSO call came in 25 minutes later, as one of the suspects in this case, Jerry Nipper, 33, was unable to locate one of the children from this case. Mr. Nipper then reported to the restaurant where the two children were being tended to. The officer reportedly told Nipper to return to his home, where the officer would meet him with the children.
Upon the officer's arrival to the residence, he says he met the second suspect in this case, Lana Mitchell. He allowed the two victims to go with her into the home to clean up, and then they would talk about what happened.
The officer says Mitchell did very little to clean the children, then discovered there was no running water inside the home. The officer also noticed other "deplorable conditions" throughout the home, including broken glass in the yard, flies throughout, awful smells, trash everywhere, dirty laundry in the bathtub, a full letterbox, and more.
After noting the conditions were not suitable for living, the officer took both suspects into custody charged with child neglect.
The identity of the children and the address of the residence was not disclosed in the arrest report.